EDITORIAL: Debating minimum wage

They weren’t alone. Workers from McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s and other fast-food chains across the nation planned rallies in 150 cities nationwide to escalate efforts to raise the minimum wage.

Efforts to raise the minimum wage are spreading like wildfires across the United States. California recently raised its minimum wage to $9 an hour behind Washington, D.C., Oregon and Washington. Cities are following suit with San Diego working to raise its to $11.50 by 2017 and Los Angeles moving toward pushing its up to $15 an hour.

But don’t think those moves are limited to the West Coast. Roughly 75 percent of Americans are in favor of a federal increase that would take the level from its current $7.25 to $10.10 an hour.

Let’s put this in perspective for a minute.

•  Forbes magazine reports 2.4 percent of all workers in the United States earned the federal minimum wage of $7.25 or less, whereas 4 percent of workers earned within 25 cents of the minimum wage in 2013. 

•  Of that 2.4 percent, 25 percent were teenagers, 50 percent were younger than 25, 70 percent were younger than 40, two-thirds were not married and another two-thirds worked part-time.

•  If the federal minimum wage is enacted, the Congressional Budget Office estimates about 16.5 million Americans would see their wages rise, boosting earnings by $31 billion, but only 19 percent of that would go to families making less than the federal poverty threshold while 29 percent would go to families making at least three times the federal poverty line, Forbes reported.

While an increase in minimum wage is certain to resonate favorably with voters at the lower end of the pay scale, it’s impact on small business owners could be harmful. Entrepreneurs, after all, are already enduring tough economic times.

Businesses, in order to pay higher wages, must generate more income just to break even on the higher costs — let alone make money. And, let’s be clear, businesses are in the marketplace to make money, not lose it. To generate that income, they’ll be forced to raise prices or cut back on employees. That’s just how business works.

Now, if an employer wants to pay its workers $15, $20 or $100 an hour, then go for it. But that’s just it — it should be a willing negotiation between the employer and the employee.

Minimum wage jobs were created as a way to get people started in the workforce, with the ultimate goal being increased skills, better jobs and higher wages.