Trump Gives Epic Answer on $15 National Minimum Wage
President Donald Trump believes the federal minimum wage should not be raised, and that it should be up to states to decide whether or not to hike their minimum wages.
When discussing economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic during Thursday night’s presidential debate, Democratic nominee Joe Biden said “I do” when asked if he believes the federal minimum wage should be raised from $7.25 to $15 an hour.
Trump quickly fired back at the statement.
“He said we have to help our small businesses by raising the minimum wage,” the president said.
“That’s not helping. I think it should be a state option. Alabama is different than New York. New York is different from Vermont. Every state is different. It should be a state option.”
“How are you helping your small businesses when you’re forcing wages? What’s going to happen and what’s been proven to happen is when you do that these small businesses fire many of their employees,” Trump said.
Trump continued to take a federalist approach.
“It should be a state option,” he continued.
“Some places, $15 is not so bad. In other places, other states, $15 would be ruinous.”
Trump on raising the minimum wage now: “It should be a state option.”
Biden on his support for raising the minimum wage now: “There is no evidence that when you raise the minimum wage businesses go out of business” https://t.co/LnqmPfaqyl #Debates2020 pic.twitter.com/VB96PD6S6Q
— Bloomberg (@business) October 23, 2020
According to a Pew Research study conducted in 2019, 67 percent of Americans favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, and 41 percent strongly support that increase.
The divide on the issue is mostly seen along party lines, as Democratic support for the policy is strong, but Republican support is fairly weak.
Even though the idea is widely popular, its implementation could have negative results.
“A Congressional Budget Office report last year found increasing the national minimum wage to $15 an hour would deliver a raise for millions of U.S. workers but could also cost 1.3 million Americans their jobs,” The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Even workers who keep their jobs could have their hours cut.
“A detailed study commissioned by the Seattle city government to examine its own $15 minimum wage found that worker pay rose about 3 percent but hours worked fell by 6 to 7 percent. These disemployment effects were hardest on the lowest paid, least experienced workers,” according to Reason.
Many businesses, particularly small businesses, are struggling to pay their workers right now due to the economic downturn created by the coronavirus pandemic.
Although the unemployment rate continues to decrease in correlation with state and local government reopening strategies, millions of Americans are still furloughed or laid off from their jobs.
The nationwide economic recovery will likely take years, and a minimum wage hike under a potential Biden administration would put more jobs and businesses in danger.
When it comes to the nation’s economic recovery, a one-size-fits-all approach is not going to work, especially when Americans paychecks are at stake.
Donald Trump appears to realize that. Does Joe Biden?
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