Most people do not even realize that whatever a employee's wage is at, is not the actual wage a employer pays...
Example (in some states) employee wage 15.00, plus for every 1,000.00 an employee makes workman's comp charges 120 to 150.00 average.Workman's comp is mandatory in some states and in some states you can opt out. I have seen some companies pay 200 per 1, 000.00.
Employer has to pay/match social security, (most people dont even know this) you pay social security and so does your employer they match the same amount you pay.
Insurance liability per employee, also 1 to 2 even up to 5.00 an hour per employee for payroll costs per hour for employee paychecks, (it is a lot more than 1 or 2 dollars with ADP payroll, ADP is the most expensive) it is also quite a lot per hour for companies with less than 100 employees.
We are not even adding in medical, and I know I am missing some other mandatory employee related fees.
In the end an employee that receives X amount per hour doesn't realize add 3 to 5 dollars an hour in costs you do not see. So that raises your hourly wage to...
A employer also has to add in costs of managers and supervisors to babysit.
Lastly employee's,some people in general and even right here in this post will say 'well you shouldn't be in business if you cannot afford' the problem with that is in a perfect world it would be great to go out in the world and charge whatever you want/feel like for your services however this is usually 'NOT' the case.
Most businesses need to stay competitive and/or go with what the average rate is-in their market area and what everyone else is charging. Granted if your good you can charge a premium but it is usually never the sky is the limit so to speak.
Paying 15.00 and hour basically put costs at least 20- 22 dollars an hour and for some types of businesses that can only charge average or fair market it is unrealistic.
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Oh and one last thing paying 15.00 an hour and the employee thinks they are winning it is not so. Because everything will increase in price 10 fold. When everything increases that 15.00 an hour will basically be exactly like the 10 or 12 an hour you used to make.
If you could raise the min. wage and force the market to not raise prices on everything then that would be great but that will never happen.