Wage Shock: The Wage Hike No One Can Afford

Описание: Wage Shock: The Wage Hike No One Can Afford

Summary:
Minimum wage hikes across America are being celebrated as overdue progress — but the truth is more complex, and more dangerous. These raises were already scheduled years ago, quietly tied to inflation and cost-of-living metrics. What changed wasn’t the law — it was the labor supply. Border tightening and immigration crackdowns reduced the availability of low-wage workers, forcing employers to comply with wage mandates they used to sidestep. Scarcity gave those wage laws real teeth.

But now comes the reckoning.

What began as a long-delayed policy adjustment is triggering a cascading cost shock. Small businesses can’t absorb the hikes. Prices rise. Automation accelerates. U.S. labor loses global competitiveness. The very workers these laws were meant to help could soon face layoffs, inflation, and dislocation. This isn’t a miracle — it’s a system crash disguised as progress.

This was never magic. It was math. And now the math doesn’t balance.