Minimum pay not meant to be ‘living’

With all this nonsense being spewed about raising the minimum wage, I would like to offer a long-standing perspective. Minimum wage was never meant to be a living wage. It has always and should remain a starting point for young people to enter the workplace. When they have gained some skills and add value to the market place by either on the job training or education, then and only then should they be afforded a raise.

You see, by taking the incentive out of moving up the ladder, we effectively have neutered our job progression system. Not to mention the rising cost of goods and services, as each of these employers will raise their prices to compensate for the wage increases. The only people that will truly get hurt are the low wage earners as they will have to pay more for the goods and services which they cannot afford.

Let’s get smarter and encourage an incentive based system where hard working people get rewarded for their efforts instead of making a comfortable bed where they are comfortable and essentially putting others out of work and the prospect of less entry-level jobs.

Greg Jones

Edmonds