darkknightkryta on 07 February 2013
| HappySqurriel said: I think people who claim businesses are "greedy" for not hiring people at minimum wage don't really understand the challenges of small business ... A family member of mine runs a small business that has a lot of revenue but a combination of low margins and high costs leave him with a very modest wage at the end of the year. I've discussed it many times with him that as the owner/manager it is his job to find a way to reduce costs and to make the business scalable but he is running into the problem that he doesn't have the time to because he has to do all the menial tasks (up to and including cleaning the bathroom). Now, if he could hire someone at $7.50/hour to work 40 hours a week he could free up the time to do the work he needs to do and (hopefully) recover the cost of this employee through increased savings or reduced costs elsewhere; but at the market rate that is closer to $15.00/hour all hiring someone to do this job will do is reduce his (already modest) income. If you're a small business owner and you're income is $40,000 per year, what is the impact of a $10,000+ increase in labour costs going to be on how you run your business? |
Is there some kind of government assistance he can get? At my other job, we were a start up company, my bosses would go to the government and get research grants. My father's employer, worked out a deal with the government where he'd send employees home ever friday and get them unemployment for one day to save costs.
