"Please Command Me On How To Improve My Bottom Line."
16 August 2006
Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281
Dear Editor:
Robert Steinberg supports raising the minimum wage because, in his experience as a small-business owner, his costs rose unnecessarily when he "lost an employee and had to train a new employee. Any person hired at $5.15 an hour is not apt to stay very long. The employee that earns more than the minimum wage will stay longer and be more productive" (Letters, August 16).
No doubt. But as Mr. Steinberg's own comments reveal, when paying workers more than $5.15 per hour improves employers' bottom lines, employers have incentives to pay these higher wages. Surely profit-seeking firms need not await a diktat from government before taking steps to raise profits.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281
Dear Editor:
Robert Steinberg supports raising the minimum wage because, in his experience as a small-business owner, his costs rose unnecessarily when he "lost an employee and had to train a new employee. Any person hired at $5.15 an hour is not apt to stay very long. The employee that earns more than the minimum wage will stay longer and be more productive" (Letters, August 16).
No doubt. But as Mr. Steinberg's own comments reveal, when paying workers more than $5.15 per hour improves employers' bottom lines, employers have incentives to pay these higher wages. Surely profit-seeking firms need not await a diktat from government before taking steps to raise profits.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Monday May 7, 2007 at 12:19pm