Adding its voice to the world’s QS and CSN, the Parti Québécois is now calling for the minimum wage to be raised to $18 an hour in response to inflation hitting the less affluent hard.
Wrong idea or progressivism?
Wages cause inflation
The idea of raising the minimum wage would be interesting if it weren’t part of a vast economic system where each falling domino triggers others in the fall.
The minimum wage issue goes beyond the impossibility of making a decent living on an hourly wage of $14.25, $15, or even $18. In fact, all salaries are determined on a comparison basis.
How much is one position “worth” compared to another?
What remuneration should an unskilled worker receive compared to a skilled worker?
How much is an employee’s experience after 20 years worth compared to the expertise of a fresh graduate?
The minimum wage affects all wages and thus also all consumer prices. In addition, the various bonuses that have been given during the pandemic to motivate essential workers, including in grocery stores, are directly impacting the increase in food prices.
live decently
If increasing wages only drives inflation, how can we offer a better quality of life to those who earn the least?
Let’s start by controlling costs, especially transport costs, by offering effective and affordable collective solutions.
Next we want to limit housing costs. For many low-income earners, rent is the largest expense item, eating up more than 50% of income in some cases.
Before raising the minimum wage, the government should create a lease register. A landlord could keep increasing rents but would have to formally justify the increases, which would avoid renovations by the less affluent.
