Plan’s increase in the minimum wage causes wage inflation and collapses small businesses
Earle ‘18
(“'Federal Jobs Guarantee' Idea Is Costly, Misguided, And Increasingly Popular With Democrats,” pg online @ https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/federal-jobs-guarantee-democrats/ //um-ef)
Wage Inflation Another issue is the wage, which several plans recommend should be (or average) $15 per hour. With the increasing focus on "living wages," it will not be long before program directors discover that $15 per hour goes far further in Alabama than Hawaii, and the tendency will be to equalize cost-of-living disparities up, further increasing already massive costs. Two other factors: both the CBPP and LEI plans fail to account for the potential disruption to existing businesses — mostly small businesses, the engine of economic growth in the United States — which will inevitably occur when workers earning less than $15 per hour leave their private sector jobs for higher-paying employment with job guarantee placement. At present, more than 40 million Americans earn less than the proposed guarantee wage of $15 per hour, which could trigger a major shift of the U.S. workforce away from private employment, on to public rolls. It would also effectively force small businesses to compete directly against the federal government on the labor market.