Raising minimum wage good for business

Isn’t an extra 30 cents and hour worth it?

Here’s an idea for a new reality television show.

Let’s call it something clever – Big Brother Minimum Wage or Real World Minimum Wage. How about Survivor Minimum Wage?

Here’s how the show will work.

We take all the leaders of business lobby groups and business owners bellyaching about the upcoming minimum wage increase and pay them that amount for a year.

They have to rent an apartment in Charlottetown on a single minimum wage income. The posh car is gone, and in its place is an old clunker.

Currently the minimum wage sits at $11.25 an hour. But let’s wait until it goes up to $11.55 an hour on April 1 to give contestants a bit more pocket change.

Based on a full-time, 37-hour work week, that adds up to $22,222 a year. A great poker hand, but tough to live on.

After employment insurance, income tax and Canada Pension Plan contributions are taken off each pay, that doesn’t leave much for car repairs, health emergencies, clothes, groceries, utilities and the occasional cup of coffee or night out with friends.

The in-house cameras can also be used as confessionals.

It may be a way for people to re-educate themselves about what it was like scraping by on a low wage.

Actually, we should be talking about what is a living wage, and I’m not sure that $11.55 cuts it. But regardless, it is a positive sign and a move in the right direction that the minimum wage is going up.

The Atlantic Provinces Economic Council recently shed some light on who is and who isn’t earning minimum wage. APEC estimates that in 2016, only 6.6 per cent of all employees in Atlantic Canada earned minimum wage. Stated differently, 93.4 per cent were making above minimum wage. On the Island, the number was a bit higher at 8.2 per cent.

So, the majority of employers were paying above the minimum wage anyway. But there are still those paying the minimum wage and fear the sky is going to fall if it goes up. I’m not convinced that it will, but if prices have to go up on the Island to help cover the increase, I’m fine with that. Everything comes at a cost, after all.

The reason is: Paying people more puts more money in the economy. But there is also a psychological component to paying people more – it makes them feel more like they’re a part of the business. They feel the company values them, which in turn fosters their selfworth as an employee. They take pride in their jobs. They’re more likely to put in the extra work and hours. It’s good for business.

If those outcomes result from raising the minimum wage, aren’t they worth an extra 30 cents an hour?