The Effect of a Minimum Wage Increase

With the Biden administration lobbying for a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour, how would consumer spending and the economy be affected if the policy passes Congress? Chief Investment Officer Jim Lowell gives his perspective in our recent webinar,* A Tale of Two Recoveries: Will Main Street Catch Up With Wall Street?

Please enjoy the excerpt below and click here for the full webinar replay to hear more. 

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Jim Lowell:

There are many people who think that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour will be an onerous burden on businesses and could lead to some kind of manifestation of inflation. But for a consumer-driven economy like our own, I think it’s very hard for us to argue against consumers who are earning more being more likely to spend more, and that would have a net positive effect on the economy, not to mention the fact that the more taxable revenue there is, it ought to mean that more solvent government will occur.

That matters increasingly, given that our government and its global equivalents have been spending stimulus money hand over fist. Even outside of the moral question of who should earn what wage and at what level, I think it would be a net positive for our economy.

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Click here for a replay of A Tale of Two Recoveries: Will Main Street Catch Up With Wall Street? Please contact us at (800) 492-6868 to learn more about our comprehensive wealth management solutions.

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