The Case For & Against Raising The Minimum Wage

COULD the upcoming budget bring another rise in the minimum wage? WWN Money weighs the pros and cons of such a move:

For: people who pay 70% of their income on rent will be marginally less impoverished.

Against: according to IBEC all businesses will go bankrupt overnight if they’re forced up pay an extra 60 cent an hour.

For: some of the lowest paid workers in the country will earn more money, helping them pay for food, clothes and rent.

Against: business owners will get mad.

For: low wage earners can splash out on luxuries like a €40 pint in Temple Bar.

Against: increasing the minimum wage will drive up inflation once more in a way that paying out billions in dividends to shareholders absolutely hasn’t.

For: listening to people ringing into Newstalk to complain will sound like Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony.

Against: majority of people earning more money will become unmotivated if they can’t clearly see that poorer people are being fucked over.

For: lifting people out of working poverty can only benefit society as a whole and reduce the burden on the welfare system.

Against: will take longer for business owner to purchase second holiday home.

For: increasing wages will help bring an end to the problem flagged by businesses, which is that they can’t attract staff currently.

Against: obliterates employers’ bullshit argument about not being able to get decent staff who want to work.