Minimum Wage Increase Already Wreaking Havoc

All it took was news of a minimum wage increase to trigger the bad effects:

Inflation:

Many who were interviewed by The Daily Star complained that shops, companies and schools have already increased the prices of their services and commodities in anticipation of the raise, making the move useless.

Unemployment:

“If I have three employees, I will lay off one, following this raise,” said the owner of a clothing shop. “How can I afford paying a raise?”

What is most annoying about this is that it is a purely political issue. It has nothing to do with sound economics. Politicians who support the minimum wage increase are either clueless or are cynically ignoring the economic consequences for short-term political gains.