Wage increase will only increase unemployment

A minimum wage is for unskilled labor, and rightly so. Jobs that only require menial tasks, such as preparing fast food, cleaning, stocking shelves, yardwork, etc., are not tasks for which an employer is seeing specialized trade skills or education. Jobs that require critical thinking, decision making and leadership are those where an employer will pay a higher wage or a salary.

I certainly would not pay someone to pour coffee and grab a hamburger and fries and put them on a tray as much as I would pay to someone who has an education and been through the work commitment and experience of college or trade school. Now, if an unskilled worker proves to me that he or she is a hard worker and can learn to take on greater responsibility, I might find value in keeping that person and paying a higher wage to do so. But that is for an employer to decide, not a politician.

Rahm Emanuel is promoting a wage hike as part of a political agenda. If passed, it will only create more unemployment. Fast food restaurants, for example, are not going to raise the cost of their products in order to pay the wage increases. Fast food is supposed to be ready quickly, just taste good and be cheap. Change one of those aspects, and people will purchase less of it. If business is forced to pay unskilled workers a high wage for types of work not worth a high wage, then they are going to compensate for the extra costs by cutting positions, benefits, and training. It's as simple as that.

It is truly a crime when people are promised by certain politicians they can vote themselves a wage increase rather have to than work and improve themselves for it.

Harold Knudsen

Arlington Heights