Latest Headlines
- Tate High School Opens New Agriscience Building
- Slight Chance Of Scattered Showers Today
- Florida’s Second Disaster Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday Begins Today
- Firefighters Learn Water Supply Tactics, Even Without A Hydrant Nearby
- King Scores Three TDs As The Northview Chiefs Dominate Destin, 26-7 (With Gallery)
- Friday Night Football Scoreboard
- Deadline Extended For Applicants For Escambia Children’s Trust
- Tate Aggies Roll Past Fort Walton Beach Vikings, 24-0
- Pinch-Hit Stevens Homer Sends Wahoos To 5-3 Loss
- Florida Silver Alert Canceled After Missing Escambia County Man Located
Florida’s Minimum Wage Increases On The Way To $15 An Hour
January 2, 2021
Florida’s minimum wage increase by a minimal amount on New Year’s Day.
The minimum wage for non-tipped workers increased from $8.56 an hour to $8.65 an hour, and the minimum for tipped workers increased to $5.63. The increases were due to a legislatively mandated cost of living increase.
During 2020, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment to eventually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour passed with about 61% of the vote, greater than the 60% needed to pass.
On September 30, 2021, Florida’s minimum wage will increase to $10 an hour and then increase by another dollar each year on the way to $15 an hour in 2026.
Comments
68 Responses to “Florida’s Minimum Wage Increases On The Way To $15 An Hour”
It amazes me that some many here blame the Democrats for this. This amendment won this county, Santa Rosa, and Okaloosa with no problem over the 60% threshold. These counties ALWAYS vote conservative Republican…like it or not your fellow Republicans voted this in because without them it would have lost. I am an Independent and I did not vote for it. Quit blaming the house next door for your roof leaking!
The value of the dollar lowers because the government keeps printing more. Imagine every dollar in bowl and the government dumps another pile of money in the bowl. Then another and another. You will have more physical dollars in the bowl, but the buying power of each dollar is less. $15 and isn’t really an increase in pay as the buying power of each dollar is less. In 1938 minimum wage was 25 cents an hour but average home price was $4,200 or 16,800 work hours at 25 cents an hour. 16,800 work hours at $15 and hour is $252,000 but today’s median home price is $320,000. The increase in minimum wage isn’t about making more, it’s about catching up with inflation. Nobody at minimum wage ever makes more. The world economy is where it gets tricky. A strong dollar can buy cheap overseas but a weak dollar allows other countries to buy in the US. I’m not an expert, but it is interesting to look at all of it.
@John
Maybe if you had paid more attention in school you would have a better than minimum wage job. Did you EVER hear of punctuation or a run on sentence? And you deserve $15/hr???
@eric
A very quick comparison of food prices between Winn Dixie in Cantonment and a Safeway in Denver prove you are wrong in your statement “that the only thing more expensive is housing”. Ground beef is about $ .80/lb more expensive, avocados in Denver are $.70/each while only $.50 here in Cantonment. A Chevy Spark from John Elway Chevrolet is about $400 more than from Sandy Sansing. I am sure if I kept comparing the list would go on and on. And one other thing…..what’s your state personal income tax rate? You remember what ours is here in Fla. right….$0!
So you go right ahead and stay in the Rocky Mtn liberal enclave that Colorado is. They aren’t to far behind becoming another Californiastan!!!
Minimum wage in Florida today is $8.65 hour. I paid $8.70 for a quarter pounder meal at McDonald’s today. If the minimum wage rises to $15 an hour does that mean I’ll pay $15 for my quarter pounder at McDonald’s. When that happens every body will lose as the value of the dollar lowers
IRONY:
Being an erudite economist while at the same time being an atrocious speller and lacking the ability to manufacture a coherent statement.
Employees should be paid for their contribution and work ethic…. not some employer mandate.
It’s like picking a VP just because of race and gender. Employers and America should expect the best
so we get a whopping 9 cent damn raise and people are complaining about how this will hurt the economy and buisness owners thats complete lies if it wasnt for the minimum wage earners busting their rumps to get buisness owners wealthy then the world would be different pay the workers they deserve way way more than this ridiculous wage how about you try working for those wages and then see how life really is people with wealth make me sick they are greedy and ignorant
I understand it seems like too much too soon but if our state had slowly! but surly raised the wage a little over the last 20 years to keep up with cost of living increases like most states have we wouldn’t have ended up with the lowest min. wage in the country and it wouldn’t seem like such a s sohock to the system now …unfortunatly…our legislators didn’t take that approach so here we in a tough situation for everybody…and being a Republican I can’t blame DEMOCRATS because this bill passed with over a 60% majority and democrats DO NOT hold a majority in our state…it’s not the end of the world we’ll adjust and move on as we always do
REGARDING:
‘If they could sell hamburgers for $100 apiece and pay their employees $1 an hour they would be doing that already.”
Actually, they would be perfectly happy to give away hamburgers and pay employees $1,000 per hour IF THEY COULD MAKE MONEY DOING IT.
They can’t.
Money has no absolute value. It wouldn’t even if you tied it to a certain amount of gold or silver because they also have no set value. All depends on how much they are wanted and how much is available.
On the other hand, consider the fact that many are holding in your hands something which couldn’t be bought for a hundred tons of gold a hundred or even twenty years ago.
And there are antibiotics which some pharmacies will GIVE you today — and can save your life — that a king’s ransom couldn’t have bought a hundred years ago.
All in all, now is better.
David for better for all
For all of yall fussing about the wage increase what you aren’t realizing is Florida has been overdue for a significant wage increase for far too long. Massachusetts minimum wage is $12 but they pay less for a gallon of milk, the same for gas, and rent/mortgage is the same price as well. Minimum wage here is nowhere near sufficient even as a single person starting off being that 40 hours a week at minimum wage doesn’t even gross 1500. Renters are expecting you to make 3x the rent which means you’re looking at $450 max. You can’t even get a room at homestay for $450 a month. Its a raise up to $10/hr which will get some of our working poor to a liveable wage. The lack of reading skills is unreal with so many seeing the title and assuming we are going straight to $15
and the people getting the increase will STILL get your order wrong at fast food restaurants or look at you sideways when you ask them to do something in stores that is clearly a part of their job. This will accomplish nothing.
Reality Check:
Business owners are already maximizing profits. If they could cut people and stay up and running they would already be doing that. Nobody runs a business thinking I only want this much money. Everybody wants to make as much money as possible. And prices are dictated by supply and demand not just whatever the seller wants to charge. If they could sell hamburgers for $100 apiece and pay their employees $1 an hour they would be doing that already. People on here are trying to make it out like business owners are running a charity.
THIS IS NOT A GOOD TIME TO RAISE WAGES (but it’s also not good for the govt to be spending so much overseas).
OK, simple economics: IF a business owner has a labor budget of $4000/week, they can hire 10 people at $10/hr. if the wage is raised to $15/hr, the owner has to let 4 people go! FOUR PEOPLE OUT OF WORK, NOT GOOD!!
Folks can say, “Well, the owner doesn’t have to let them go, they could just take a lower profit.” Well, no they won’t. People are in business to make a profit. What they will do is raise their prices and that will negate the wage increase.
Inflation is caused by so many different things, that simply raising the wages is not any kind of a solution. Massive unemployment (like we have now with COVID); too much money in circulation; Not spending; high demand and low supply; people holding money and not buying; and low production are things that affect inflation. Inflation makes prices go up.
IMO, to keep up with inflation since 1968, the wage should be $12/hr right now. I suggest raising the MW to $12/hr and then, like the military and govt workers get, an annual COLA (cost of living allowance) to match inflation. No perfect solution, just the lesser of the evils.
@Bill, lol @ all the fools who think they’ll get $15/hr yet everything else will remain the same.
Cost of living is going to increase, land and state taxes. So with $15 an hour people will still be living pay check to pay check. You’ll still be in the same boat as when you made $8.56. And to the person saying people at Wal-Mart will get the pay they deserve, they pay their employees much more then working at a burger place. I made $12.34 an hour in on-line grocery. And my sil is making $12 being on the cap team. It’s not a bad company to work for and they pay good. You don’t even have to earn vacation time to take days off, you can use your pto for vacation or sick days.
It did not take long for tipped workers to begin complaining about the increase in wages in states where the minimum wage went up to $15 an hour for all workers, including for tipped workers. People stopped tipping because those workers were now supposedly earning a living wage. They went from making $60+ an hour to $15.
I’m of the opinion that the government in all forms, needs to get out of the business of setting wages. A free market should be just that. Businesses are already competing for COMPETENT workers. If someone works hard and does a good job, they will earn more, and SHOULD earn more than entry level workers.
If I were a business owner, I would ALWAYS hire all workers as temporary on a 90 day trial basis. Depending upon the work they did, I would pay–or let go of–accordingly.
In my spouse’s current position, he makes a decent wage. His job requires education, specific training, and certification. Flipping burgers at McDonald’s requires no education, no real training, and no certification. So, in the minds of the complete idiots who voted for this wage increase (probably mostly Walmart type workers and their mommies who want them out of the house), these people will have nearly $7.00 an hour of additional buying power by the time this entire thing is set in motion. But what those fools have absolutely no concept of, is BASIC economics.
They just kicked the feet out from their customer base, you know, the ones who worked hard to better themselves for increased wages. They DECREASED the buying power of everyone else. People won’t be spending as much and employers will have to fire more workers. Employers WILL fire as opposed to laying off because of the cost savings to them in unemployment insurance. Then the ones fired will be SOL. Perhaps the one good thing from it all is that people still with a job, will start DOING THEIR JOBS if they want to keep them. Perhaps the lazy snowflake generation will actually work for their wages instead of getting paid to stand around taking selfies and checking their “likes” on social media.
People, if you want better wages, BETTER YOURSELF and STOP sucking off the teat of those of us who have already done so!
Off my soapbox.
Yes you! The guy who makes 15 plus working hard person , This is simple tell the the true, look yourself in the mirror i say i’m a selfish arrogant person, i don’t want to see my neighbor or friend succeed in life, i want them to stay poor and collecting food stamps while i can show off my nice life style to others. And companies explode them. Stop making excuses about your 2 cents more big mac, you are not better than anyone else.
This is for sure going to make taxes go up. The average First Responders wages is around 12 – 13 an hour, so when it gets to 15 an hour minimum wage every one taxes will rise due to most if not all first responders salaries come from taxes. I am a firm believer that first responders do not get payed enough for what they do! But I also believe the ones that risk their lives Saving others starting hourly rate should not be the same as some high schoolers bagging groceries at a store or flipping burgers at a fast food place.
Wait until the rent goes up and you start paying moooooooooore taxes !!!!!
The cost of everything is going up and the ones of us that are on fixed income will suffer more. Our social security check will not increase, OOOOOOh that is right they (the ones getting the raise) will start helping support the ones that didn’t
And one more thing, talk to any native Coloradan that lived here when marijuana was legalized and even if they were stro fly against it then their not now, it’s cut crime down, and there’s not a toll road in all of Colorada, why weed paid for it along with the revitalization of just about every part of denver. Drug houses were nocked down in low income areas and up pipes $400000 3 bed 2 bath houses that people apaid for cause everyone saw it happening and coming.
I am no financial wiz but I would say the blame lyes on a monetary system that all it causes is inflation
That may have been the way economics worked 20, 40, 60 years ago, which also shows why FL is so far behind on raising minimum wage along with fully believing covid is real and NOT something our government created to control us and administered via 5G cell towers. I know because I lived there the first 38 years of my life and finally moving to Denver, ironically for no other reason than a girl friend, but for what ever the reason, floridians need to know that minimum wage isn’t the same through out the rest of the country or even close. When I moved here in 2017 I was surprised and ellated to find out it was $12.44/hr back then, this year it rose to $15.23 and in September is going up to 16 , that’s PER HOUR and let me tell you the only thing more is housing, but that also means it sells for more when the time comes. Not only that in FL the only people who ever could get Medicaid was single struggling parents or if you were the caregiver of a parent. NOT HERE, in fact haven’t meant anyone ever turned down and not only that but food stamps as well. Plus people are just plain nicer here. Wake up you dang floridians, you-all are getting left behind because all the retires are afraid of change. And if Covid taught us one thing we can’t be afraid of it or it swallows you up..#iaintnvrgoinbac…
For all of you complaining that you have a degree and now people at McDonald’s with no education will be making more than you I’m ashamed of you if you went through all those years of college and you’re only making $15 an hour you’re an idiot case closed
Wow. I never knew this country had so many over qualified economists.
Reading the comments here, going forward it would be wise to do this:
Start teaching economics in about 8th grade, and stop teaching socialism in any grade.
You see my name. I am a product of grandparents who owned 100 farm acres they worked their butts off. I have a slave name.I have worked my butt off since I was 11 years old. I worked with special needs population and did everything for them I deserve to get paid my worth. The people who work hard get stepped on or overlooked. They deserve a break today!!! I too am working diligently for a college degree and it probably won’t mean as much as it was supposed to so I’m on the fence.But change is gonna come and should come!!!!! I have always paid taxes and when I fall down, I can’t get No help!!! That’s the real problem!!!
It gives our kids a better start in life
Minimum wage has always been cancelled out by rising cost. People earning above minimum wage now, will see increase in pay by default. Nobody making minimum wage ever makes more. Even at $15, the buying power is still less than the past. The difference is mostly seen in the world economy. The value of the dollar determines the buying power outside the US. And the buying power of foreign money being spent within the US. It’s all an act to balance out inflation. Government appears to give us more without actually giving us more. As far as minimum wage being a stepping stone to bigger and better things; this isn’t true for everyone. The low wage jobs will always far out number higher wage jobs. Getting a degree does not guarantee higher pay. Many people will always be stuck at low wages. Some for not trying. Others for not being as good as the other person applying for the job. Remember, we are no longer competing for work in a country of 320 million. We are competing in a world of 8 billion. I’ll end by saying this. All the hard work in the world won’t make everyone an astronaut. Our college system needs to better balance the number of degrees they give out with job availability and people need to stop assuming that everyone can make it if they just try. Maybe if we stopped artificially propping up housing costs, then people could afford rent. But this would hurt people that own homes as an investment rather than a place to live. The key has always been balance. But with balance those with a lot will have less and those with none will have some. People won’t accept this, so balance will always be out of reach causing us to continue kicking and scratching our way to the top.
I don’t begrudge someone’s need for a living wage, but my hard work and BA degree is now of no greater value than someone who lacks education and has no experience.
It is flatly depressing. I earn 16.44 an hour at a skilled job that requires a degree. I’m grateful to have a job at all in these circumstances, but I know there will also be no raise for me in a bad economy.
The low pay, unskilled work was never meant to be anything more than entry level/get experience for your resume and move on. It was not supposed to be a career.
I just wish that people could learn to spell correctly and get past their “McDonalds” mentality level so that maybe they can understand the reason for the eventual Minimum Raise increase… It’s not ‘Rocket Science’…
So I’ve read a lot of comments so far stating this will help so many earn a living wage, with that mind set we should expect to see welfare decrease greatly and lower taxes since that much is no longer needed. Or will taxes go up and wages and the price of goods, as they move the bar even higher to qualify? We shall see. Minimum wage was never designed for a living wage, it’s a starting point not a resting point, learn to better yourself and move forward, myself worked 3 jobs and put myself through college without ever any government assistance or loans from anyone, I’ve never been one to just give up and place my hardship or responsibility on anyone but my own shoulders.
@D, no it will actually not give more purchasing power to anyone. Wages will increase and the cost of goods and services will increase to match. It will actually do more harm than good. It will be a massive strain on those who are retired and live on a fixed income. It will cost jobs as business owners will look toward technology to reduce unskilled workers. Other wages will have to increase as well, it is a zero sum gain.
Most people never took economics and fail to understand economics.
People will start complaining about the cost of things in the next year or two, especially if they travel out of the State often.
I vote yes and I voted for Trump. Wages have been frozen since the 90’s. While cost of living has skyocketed.
What this bill does is give more purchasing power to the lower classes , it forces companies like Walmart to actually pay their employees a real.wage. and yes hour cuts will happen which if used wisely allows people to go back to school learn a trade etc.
I think the real.hate is from a perspective of fear. Alot of the middle class.is not as secure as the want to think they are . If I get chills driving past panhandlers due to me always being one paycheck.away from being them. I assume the office worker and tradesman see me in a similar light .
I’ll preface by saying I am not a democrat or Biden supporter, and I think he is inappropriately around children. With that said, let me explain something in layman’s terms. The $15/hr minimum wage is already “baked in” long ago, which means that it was expected and should’ve already been implemented in Florida. $8/hr is literally slave wages (no I’m not black, trans, or a BLM supporter either) in the 21st century. No prices on groceries, booze, gas, etc. will increase as a direct result of a minimum wage increase that was supposed to have already been implemented 5-10 years ago. We are already overpaying.
What we may see are unhealthy fast food restaurants that are killing us either adapt and automate, increase the price of a Big Mac heart attack, or go out of business completely. The same goes for other businesses taking advantage of human capital like home builders because of the current imbalance. You have to realize we do not need most of the garbage that businesses try to sell us. People have been programmed to think they do but alas we do not.
The ones complaining are either ignorant followers or own businesses that take advantage of employees by paying them slave wages. They do not have your best interests in mind. Instead they are consumed by greed and worship money.
-A true American patriot
@james Conway
It’s better for people to pay there on way
than to depend on the Government. I worked
On a job for 35 years and the new hires made
what I made in 2 years so what most people are
worried about someone making more than them.
Price of goods go up every year so the wages
need to go up to afford those goods.
Correction on my comment. Was supposed to say “your are not getting further ahead”.
As far as I can tell, this will only end up creating more “poor” people. But then again, that’s what a lot of government wants, so you will depend on them. The more you depend on government the more they they can control you. I understand people thinking that people should be able to have a roof over their head and yes that is true. I mean you are supposed to be working your way up. I didn’t start at 15 an hour. And what about the people who worked a few years and making 15 or whatever now? Do they get an increase equal to the difference or are they just screwed while a newbie just starting gets to make the same? No, they won’t. Be either way, the cost of goods and services will go up, and so will rent and I suspect interest rates will be increasing. Cost of goods and services go up, you will be paying more in tax, and in the end you are getting farther ahead and will make other people fall behind because of costs increases. I’m hope I’m wrong and we can all live in a fairy tale world.
The give me all crowd and lazy liberals voted for this.
Not Good.
Look up Seattle and get back to us.
Way to go Florida.
Ever get a job from a Poor Person?
Well you’re about to find out Poor People do not hire.
If paying your workers a living wage causes your business to go bankrupt, then you don’t deserve to run a business.
I’m disappointed in all of you who are okay with letting your neighbors suffer so you can save $0.20 on a cheeseburger. We’re better then that.
@Bill
Laws against empty investment properties? What the heck are you talking about?
lol @ everyone here trying to make a case for $8 being better than $15
I never listen to financial advice from conservatives who only worry about the national deficit when they aren’t in power and continue giving tax breaks to the ultra rich on the theory that the benefits will somehow trickle down to the rest of America.
That’s what Ronald Reagan promised 35 years ago and it still hasn’t happened. We can stop doing the same things and expecting different results or we can try something new and invest in people and this is what’s new.
While some people may benefit with an increase in their hourly earnings, other employees will be let go to save costs.
Employers may elect to cut hours across the board for everyone.
Whichever way the employer goes, some of the workers will be in a worse situation.
Seattle’s move to $15 an hour, a few years ago, resulted in workers given fewer hours and experiencing a net loss in pay.
Way to go DEMOCRACTS!!!
People voted for this due to uninformed ignorance! Stupid is as stupid does! It’s coming so you better get ready to be bitten in the butt! You think you’re getting something for free but you’re going to loose your job because employers can’t afford to keep you. You can make $15 and pay $25 for that Happy Meal or go to the house! You loose!!!! No we all loose because of your ignorance! Geeze….
WHAT THE PEOPLE THAT VOTED THIS IN WILL REALIZE IS WHEN THEY START MAKING $15 AN HOUR THEY WILL LOSE ALL GOVERMENT HELP, NO FOOD STAMPS AND NO HOUSING. THEY WILL FIND OUT THEY HAD MORE MONEY AT 8.56 THAN 15.00. THEY WILL EATHER HAVE TO RENT OR BUY, PAY THEIR OWN ELECTRIC,INSURANCE BOTH MEDICAL AND HOMEONWERS AND BUY FOOD.AND PEOPLE ON A FIXED INCOME WILL STOP BUYING BURGERS SO MANY PIZZA AND HAMBUGER PLACES WILL LAY OFF THEIR EMPLOYES AND TRY TO RUN THEIR PLACESES WITH NO HELP TO KEEP OVERHEAD DOWN. SO UNEMPLOYMENT GOES OUT THE ROOF. AMERICA REST IN PEACE YOU WENT TO EASY.
I just returned from 2026 where a cup of coffee is $15.
if you think this will is “fair”,…if you think this is a good thing for folks,…do yourself and this nation a favor and stop voting,…because you are an ignorant wretch that does not have the economic sense nor knowledge that God gave a billy goat??? might consider the economic ramifications of such a thing???idiots!!!
The people voted for it because we think a working person should be able to survive. Next up is statewide rent control and laws against empty investment properties. The antiquated days of slave labor capitalism are dying. A new day of economic justice is on the horizon.
The people who voted for this have no idea how to run a business, but they certainly know how to ruin one.
I did the math five years ago when 15 an hour started.
You can take twelve people – 4 groups of three each:
an electronic tech, an electrician, and a mechanic. pay them 19, 17, and 15 an hour repsectively.
the tech runs the robot and manages the store. the electrician fixes anything electrical, and the mechanic does anything hydraulic on the robot.
the robot then cooks, stores, and wraps the sandwiches.
meaning: you can automate the store entirely and now mcdonald’s is no longer an entry level job, the maintenance crew is on site, and you can do it for less money at a 15 an hour minimum wage than if you hired high schoolers to do it.
and you have 4 shifts of three guys each, keeping the store open 24/7.
in other words, most of florida voters decided to screw over anyone who was trying to build their own business. if you voted for it… you own it.
The people who voted for this have no idea how to run a business, but they certainly know how to ruin one.
I did the math five years ago when 15 an hour started.
You can take twelve people – 4 groups of three each:
an electronic tech, an electrician, and a mechanic. pay them 19, 17, and 15 an hour repsectively.
the tech runs the robot and manages the store. the electrician fixes anything electrical, and the mechanic does anything hydraulic on the robot.
the robot then cooks, stores, and wraps the sandwiches.
meaning: you can automate the store entirely and now mcdonald’s is no longer an entry level job, the maintenance crew is on site, and you can do it for less money at a 15 an hour minimum wage than if you hired high schoolers to do it.
and you have 4 shifts of three guys each, keeping the store open 24/7.
in other words, most of florida voters decided to screw over anyone who was trying to build their own business. if you voted for it… you own it.
Here comes the $5 bread, $10 milk and $15 combo meals.
Gonna be a lot of automation of starter jobs.
Get ready for higher costs for products to compensate for the employee wages. Plus, I guarantee jobs paying minimum wage will eventually cut positions. This means the employees making minimum wage will either work “harder” to accommodate for the lack of employees, or work product and services will suffer because the fewer employees (now making much more money) aren’t doing the extra work. So, we will pay for this increase in one way or another.
Good job Florida! Can’t wait to still get a completely screwed up order from some crap attitude worker at McDonald’s making $15 an hour. Go ahead and wave goodbye to those small business jobs as well when they have to start letting people go to offset an increase in payroll.
Artificially increasing minimum wage (as opposed to basing it on changes in the cost of living index) equals increasing costs of goods and services, which tends to cancel out each other.
@JVT— Because we NOW live in the FREE Everything society, brought on by the Ne’er-do-wells who vote Democrat.
Welcome to less jobs for people as kiosk will take the place of people. A $2 cheeseburger will now be $6 dollars. Idiots who voted for this don’t understand basic economics. Wages go up so do goods and companies will start do have more and more self checkouts and kiosk. Congratulations your still going to be making as much as you were before.
As the Minimum wage increases, small businesses will have to decide which workers they cannot afford and lay off. When citizens increase their pull from the public treasury from the taxpayers, it hurts the overall economy. Now, if you want socialism, that’s another story. Remember, there is no “Government funded”, it’s really all TAXPAYER FUNDED. And for those who spout about the rich people, know that the more you take from the rich (who created businesses that provide jobs), the less money they have each time the government takes from them and eventually they won’t be rich anymore. Maybe that’s what you want but then where will your government get the funding from, hmm? Think about that.
This is not going to be a good thing for the State; Workers, business owners, and the consumers. Wages may go up, but the cost of goods and services will keep pace with that, employment (especially non-skilled, part-time) jobs will decrease.
I’ve yet to meet anyone who voted for this; Left or right voter, white/blue collar, ect…
Ridiculous!
Numerous studies show minimum wage laws hurt the very people they are supposedly designed to help while raising the cost of living for everyone. The amendment was almost 100% bankrolled by John Morgan, the personal injury attorney from the numerous Morgan and Morgan commercials.
The question is, why would John Morgan spend $5m+ of his own money to get this amendment passed? One need look no further than the last amendment he bankrolled for Medical Marijuana, and the numerous investments he has made in the marijuana industry in Florida while positioning himself for the day “recreational marijuana” becomes a reality. From a July 2019 Orlando Magazine Article, “Morgan predicts recreational marijuana will be passed in Florida within the next few years, like several other states. And he stands to profit handsomely from the industry—and from the amendment he got approved”. In other words, he is going to make money on it by supplying the 3rd most populated State in the USA.
That brings us back to the minimum wage amendment. Why bankroll it when according to the same article, “Earlier this year (2019) after being called out by Orlando Weekly, Morgan raised the law firm’s minimum hourly wage to $15, moves he says will cost him millions”. That would be about the time they started gathering signatures to get the amendment on the ballot. One of the factors in Personal Injury Settlements is Lost Wages. Raise those wages and the value of a settlement increases, which means the law firms cut, usually 40%, will be more. Just like the medical marijuana amendment, its all about the Benjamins.
We need to raise the bar for these amendments from 60% to 75% so rich people can’t use the Florida Constitution to pass legislation they know will never make it through the Florida legislature.
Not perfect, but a step in the right direction. Anyone who is willing to work and contribute to society deserves a roof over their head and the ability to provide for their family.
August,2021 will start seeing a higher unemployment for employers won’t pay it on the lower scale jobs.
So now people who voted for this, don’t start complaining when prices are doubled and tripled in order to pay the minimum wage workers. It baffles me that these people seem to think this money appears out of thin air.
This is a reflection of the lack of understanding people have of economics. This will cause tremendous harm on those it intends to help, but understanding that requires knowledge of how economics work. Sadly, that has found its way out of the education system and public narrative and has been replaced with a very Marxist ideology.
Why people voted this in astonishes me, California, here we come.