Employer Greed Is The Principle Behind Minimum Wage

Mike Paul September 13, 2016April 24, 2021 1 Comment

The principle behind minimum wage is the belief that employment is an exploitative business relationship, where the employers never volunteer to raise employee wages from their own motivation, it therefore becomes the duty of a third party like the governments to issue simple decrees that can raise the wages of marginal workers. The major pro argument to this belief is that it helps to solve the problem of greed rampant in employers. A number of companies especially the privately owned corporations or businesses for which the owner is their own boss and the chief controller of everything, and accountable to no one, he is likely to be driven by the principle of self accumulation and greed for wealth to the point that he may fail to consider the needs of others. Greed is believed to be the chief element under play in the decision to determine how to compensate their employees, the employer in this case will not behave as if guided by the principle of reason.

This fact could be true considering that humans -as selfish individuals who are guided by selfish pursuits before thinking of others- it is true that without an external force like the government which comes in to set the minimum wage these employers will always suppress the employees. The private employer will always want to earn more and more no matter the cost to others, they will not voluntarily uplift or raise wages, regardless of however big their profit. Many therefore argue that this is the sort of risk that the principle of the minimum wage was trying to solve; it is believed to be the brainchild of the ideology.

The above argument notwithstanding, it is important to understand also that, even if the employers were greedy and lead by self aggrandizement, there another power that also makes employers want to pay more, they will give better remunerations to their employees, for if they do not do this, then the workers will leave for other well paying employers. Greed is not only the sole driver in employers, they too, need competitive workers to realize higher yields, competition therefore arises for good employees in the free market system; this economic argument is always missed by people who hold the above pro-opinion. This competition makes companies self-regulated. In fact, the better employers treat their employees the more the work output and the quality their work. This is arguably the principle behind the benefits scheme that employers give their employees to attract better workers.

From this point of view the interventions by the governments to influence the wages by establishing minimum wage is therefore a distortion to principles of a market economy. In a free market economy everything must be left to sell in the market at whatever price, people therefore need and actually must be left to sell their services and expertise to the market at whatever price that they can afford, this would increase employment to the many unskilled employees who are always laid off when governments raise minimum wages. The minimum wage system has been misused by many governments for the benefits of special interest group in order to win their favors and sympathies. This phenomenon is mostly rampant in the developing worlds and in young democracies, where politicians or people who wield the power may just decide to raise wages as an attempt to win the voters. This concept of the minimum wage has made many companies to lay off worker and only to retain the number that they are convenient with, this is not definitely good for a society that is seeking social justice. It produces one class of people that are paid so well and a majority that are jobless; in my opinion this system is not the best, I strongly oppose the idea of the minimum wage.