$15 minimum wage will be counterproductive

The minimum wage piece that ran in Monday's Daily Herald mentioned several scenarios for a statewide implementation but left out the most important one. The real hourly minimum wage is $0 because that's what will be your salary if your job is eliminated.

Also missing is any real discussion that would include realities such as "higher prices," "labor costs," "profits," "automation," "economic growth," or "reduced hours," all of which should be part and parcel of wage determination. Those who advocate a mandated $15 minimum wage appear to have little or no understanding of exactly how those artificial, above-market wage hikes adversely affect employers.

If you are a small-business owner and forced to increase your employees wage above the value of the services or product your business sells the marketplace, what are your options? Reduce your salary, increase prices, reduce hours worked, where possible employ automation reducing the number of workers you employ.

The ill effects of mandating above-market wages are aptly illustrated by what is happening in New York City, specifically to the car wash business, which is staffed primarily by low-skill workers and immigrants and where the $15 wage rate becomes effective in January of 2019. A number of car washes have already closed, some have partially automated resulting in reduced employment, and newly automated establishments are opening, employing a couple of managers and not employing 25 to 40 workers.

It's obvious that this push for $15 will have the greatest and largely negative impact on the most vulnerable in our community, low-skill and immigrant workers.

Geri Wasserman, a member of Reclaim Northwest Suburbs, a $15 wage supporter, is quoted as saying, "…, people are struggling on a minimum wage of $8.25, trying to make ends meet for their families." Just imagine how they will struggle when that wage goes to $0.

Joe H. Heater

Palatine