"Change in employment: -500k" It's not just that costs could go up, it's that jobs could also disappear. What's the hardest part about entering the job market? Proving that your labor is valuable. It's hard to build a resume when the wage floor is set so high.
Re:Universal Basic Income is Capitalism 2.0
by erik_seaberg on Thursday July 30, 2020 @12:55AM
(#23994815)
Unlike UBI, minimum wages don't affect everyone and aren't purely inflationary. Some workers earn more gross income, some get fewer hours and earn less, and some get laid off. I think I support UBI but it clearly cannot be raised to fully compensate for every price increase.
Isn't this the same argument that's used to argue against increasing the minimum wage? "if you increased the minimum wage, then the costs will go up for those businesses hiring minimum wage workers, making the goods more expensive for those workers, and canceling everything out!". But empirical evidence has shown this has not been the case[1]. Because of this, I'm wary of any hand-wavy arguments like these that just mention some effects without attempting to quantify the magnitude of those effects.
[1] random result: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CBO_Projected_Effect...