{"id":2828,"date":"2018-10-03T11:23:32","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T15:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/?p=2828"},"modified":"2018-10-05T07:42:17","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T11:42:17","slug":"amazon-raises-minimum-wage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musingsbymichael.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/03\/amazon-raises-minimum-wage\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazon raises minimum wage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Living<\/a><\/p>\n

Amazon has raised their minimum wage to $15.00 per hour. They were paying just under $11.00, so this is a hike of just over 36 percent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Per CBS News<\/a> Ben Zipperer, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute said, “This is going to be a big deal for very low-wage workers. It’s going to compel other businesses to raise wages as well<\/i>.” Also, \u201cDarren Moscato, who owns an Express staffing agency in Buffalo, New York, where Amazon has built a warehouse, said the higher pay offered by Amazon “will make it harder for local businesses to compete for workers.” Moscato noted that smaller companies typically spend more on labor than does Amazon, which uses more automation. “This is why Amazon is also pushing for a higher national minimum wage,” Moscato said. “It will give them a competitive advantage<\/i>.”\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So the big guy, Amazon, will have the unfair advantage and your local small businesses will be hard pressed to compete because they do not have the resources that companies like Amazon have. Plus there is no way that these small mom and pop businesses can ever even match $15.00 per hour for many of the jobs that they employ people for.<\/span><\/p>\n

What might well happen is that while Amazon, Target, Walmart and other large businesses will not really be hurt, many of your local small businesses will more than likely have to either do more with less employees or close.<\/span><\/p>\n

The winners are those workers whose wages were much less than $15.00 per hour. Now they will have more take home pay and may even have to pay more taxes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Also per CBS News, \u201cIesha Townsend, who works as a McDonald’s cashier in Chicago, said she hopes other companies follow suit. Townsend, 32, plans to demonstrate for higher pay on Thursday as part of the Fight for $15 movement.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

“Why shouldn’t we get it too?” she said, referring to Amazon’s raise. “We work so hard, and we get less<\/i>.”\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sounds like a win-win for low income workers, right? Wrong! Many of their jobs will be eliminated and\/or replaced by automation. Per Interesting Engineering<\/a>, \u201cA new burger store in San Francisco has done away with people and is introducing a fully automated burger making machine. The Creator Storefront<\/a> restaurant will be host to the Creator robot that can grind beef, cook it to order, slice the buns, and assemble toppings<\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t even think that companies like McDonald’s won’t automate and get rid of those workers making it’s food. There goes many low wage jobs that people needed and once it becomes cheaper to automate, then these people will be out of a job!<\/span><\/p>\n

So much for the benefits of a so called \u201cliving wage!\u201d Reality always will rear it’s ugly head and spoil the dreams of those who feel oppressed.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike<\/span><\/p>\n

PS October 5, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that Amazon has announced that they will be cutting out incentives, the minimum wage raise to $15.00 per hour is almost nullified. The more productive workers will now not receive more pay for doing a better job and that is bad for them.<\/span><\/p>\n