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Originally Posted by Harry Lime
I have seen a positive impact on the minimum wage employees on a day to day basis, those who maintained their hours (because the business would cease to function if any more were cut, from what was left from last year's cuts).
Some of the people coming at this issue from a theoretical standpoint forget (or never knew) what it's like to need an extra 40 dollars a week to keep themselves away from the food bank.
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Having been on the food bank end before I totally get it. But I also would hate to think the only thing keeping me out of the food bank was that the guy next to me is now in the welfare line.
I think a more specific, and balanced increase would have worked better for everyone. Realizing how businesses would be affected and trying to find solutions while allowing the higher income didn't seem to take place, and while there were many workers who have benefited, there are those that have been negatively hurt, and instead of having just enough to get by, they now need to use that food bank.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank MetaMusil
I'm glad to see some of this is finally sinking in. Further back in the thread I suggested that Alberta tier their minimum wage increases based on the size of the business (like Seattle did) to reduce the impact on small businesses.
Obviously that's not what they're doing, and these are the results.
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I agreed with the sentiments for increasing the minimum wage but I find the implementation has been heavy handed. The Alberta min wage has kept up with inflation, but that doesn't mean that it has kept up with the income levels of the average Albertan.
$15 an hour, to me, was just a nice round popular number. There was no thought or research put into it. I think the Alberta min wage was too low when compared to the median income of the province, but instead of creating a manageable target (as compared to other provinces) this flat number was introduced. I don't know the exact numbers but going from 38% of median to 45% of median in 4 years is going to have a disruptive effect on the market.
The Seattle comparative would have been much better, I also think that an age based minimum wage could have been appropriate to ensure youth still had entry into the market while allowing for more experienced people (even if low skilled) to be able to find work. Really the end point being, raising the minimum wage to me was a good thing. The implementation of it was not. I never knew that Seattle had used the size of business in their process, so it is hard to compare jurisdictions where one thought out the repercussions, and one only looked at the possible benefits.