Not that I'm for it, but the other side of the raising minimum wage argument is: the millions of people working for miminum (or close to minimum) wage will all have a bit more money, and
that money will circulate back into the economy. They're still living in poverty, so it's not like they're going to be saving most of it, just surviving.
Some rough estimates.
- Per the Burea of Labor Statistics, there are about 5 million working at or below (yes, it's possible) minimum wage. IDK how many are earning $7.50-$9/hour. for round numbers, lets say another 5 million. So 10 million.
- The average workweek is currently 34.5 hours. Let's just call it 30.
- Again, rough numbers, let's say that averages out to a $1.50/hr raise for all.
- That multiplies out to about $2340/year/person. Obviously there are payroll taxes etc, so let's call it $2000 to keep the numbers round.
That means an additional $20 Billion per year circulating through the economy. Obviously that isn't a ton of money but still, companies make a bit more money, hire more people etc...
All that said, this really seems like much ado about nothing.
Their employers have to pay another $20 billlion or so, but most of that is circulating right back into the economy. That seems pretty net-neutral to me.
And again, we're only talking about 10 million people and around $20 billion.
Prices may rise ever so slightly, but we're really talking about a comparatively tiny amount of money here.
Thus, the "outrage" over this
drop in the bucket is way overblown imo.