Did you know that the minimum wage is set to increase this Friday?

From the Labor Department’s Web site:

“This administration is committed to improving the lives of working families across the nation, and the increase in the minimum wage is another important step in the right direction,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “This well-deserved increase will help workers better provide for their families in the face of today’s economic challenges. I am especially pleased that the change will benefit working women, who make up two-thirds of minimum wage earners.”

A government mandated increase in the cost of doing business in a recession is just brilliant. (Not!)

A family with a full-time minimum wage earner would see its monthly income increase by about $120. That is more than a week’s worth of groceries for an average family of four or more than one week’s utility bills. The $120 buys three tanks of gas for a small car. The $120 would easily cover the cost of replacing all the light bulbs in a typical home with compact fluorescent light bulbs — which would save the family money in the long term and be an important step toward a greener country.

Yes, that extra $120 would be fantastic, for those who can hold on to their job! No sane employer will ever hire or keep for long an employee who is less productive than his/her wage. If the minimum wage rises above a worker’s productivity, the worker will loose his/her job. The motto of the Fair Labor Standards Act should be “a living wage for some, no wage for others!”

A rise in the minimum wage also crates a ripple effect of increasing wages as those (especially in labor unions) who were previously above the minimum pay grade now find themselves at the minimum and demand a raise.

Those getting the extra $120 will also soon find that their purchasing power is not what it used to be as rising wages increase the prices of goods and services they want to buy.