Minimum Wage should keep pace with inflation

The organization of this post shall be to state my position before addressing the points made by Pro. The argument to raise the minimum wage in relation to inflation is based on the premise that the minimum wage helps those workers with the least amount of skill. Such a premise is faulty whether looking at it from the standpoint of a micro view (individual businesses and employees) or a macro view (looking at the supply of "unskilled" labor versus the demand for it). For a minimum wage to have an effect, it must be set higher than what a worker wishes to work for; otherwise, the minimum wage is nothing more than words on a piece of paper. Looking at the issue from a micro view, no business can continuously employ a person for more than the value they bring the firm. It would be a form of charity, or at least a bet on the future, to hire someone who only adds five dollars per hour to the company for six dollars per hour. What a minimum wage does, then, is make it that no person may be employed for less than that wage, regardless of their productivity. If a person cannot produce at least the minimum wage, such as a young adult just entering the workforce with nothing more than a high school diploma, then it is more difficult for that person to find an employer willing to take a chance on the person, especially when the labor market is swelled from a recession with workers with a much more extensive work history and contacts to further vouch for a person"s productivity. Such relations effect the macro level, then, by essentially removing from the labor pool workers who do not produce enough to justify being paid the minimum wage. This artificially reduces the labor supply; workers who do exist may be able to earn more, but there is no additional production from those workers. Increasing the "profits" of laborers in this way artificially increases the costs for firms; smaller firms are less able to take a chance than larger firms, and thus the larger firms gain an advantage in productivity and crowd out competitors, resulting in scarcer consumer goods, raising the price further. Once one takes into account the possibility of younger people being dependent on parents for longer, as well as tax-funded loans for those young adults to attend university, the benefits of those workers who do command a better wage quickly diminishes as well. Inflation is most certainly harmful to the poor, who tend to receive funds after new currency has entered the market, and savers, who rely on fixed incomes for their livelihood, but a silver lining to inflation is reducing the efficacy of the minimum wage. Now, as for Pro"s Arguments: In relation to the minimum wage, Pro"s argument rests on the minimum waging improving the lives of poorer individuals so as to improve the economy through a better paid lower class and to help ease the troubles of life such as rent and food. Pro goes on a slight tangent in regards to education, but as Pro has not linked an increase in education with an increase in minimum wage, I see little reason in addressing those arguments. Most criticism of Pro"s position can be found earlier in my statement; one that is not addressed is the fear of not being able to provide ones family with shelter and food. Such concerns are the cost of having a family; it matters not whether one earns a lot of money or a little money, whether one attains income primarily through selling ones services or through investments, should the source of income disappear, then the family is in trouble. Of more concern is the real wealth a family attains; real wealth is born from competition, which besides cheaper goods means more competition for labor from employers and potential employers who must worry about good workers leaving one firm to earn a better wage at another. To sum up the post, minimum wage is a net detriment to the economy when considering those who are not allowed to enter the workforce, the reduced competition larger firms enjoy, and the cost of dependents on working parents for longer periods of time. It is a mistake, further, to assume that any policy will greatly change the human condition; technology and goods increase the standard of living and makes life easier, but whether one works a minimum wage job or earns $100,000 a year, the needs of shelter and food are still going to be a priority in an uncertain world where the current form of income may be lost. Reducing the real wealth of nations will hurt those the minimum wage is supposed to help.