The nation’s lowest paid workers are seeing a slight bump in their paychecks due to the federal minimum wage increase of 70 cents, which went into affect on Friday.
The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 was composed of three sections that required an in-crease to $5.85 and $6.55 in 2007 and 2008, respectively. On Friday the minimum wage rose to $7.25.
While this might seem like a slight pay increase, but many economists and local business owners alike are arguing that in the current economic state and Georgia’s unemployment rate at 10 percent, 70 cents per employee per hour adds up quickly.
"We will have a chain-wide price increase," said Jonathan Purcer, owner of the Chick-fil-A in Calhoun.
Purcer said the price increase was a corporate decision made to combat profit losses due to the bump in pay for minimum wage employees. But Purcer said the issue he is facing is not a decline in the profit margin, but a decline in younger employee productivity.
“Half of our team members are getting artificial raises not based on performance or merit,” he said.
According to Purcer Chick-fil-A pays usually pays employees well above minimum wage.
“Usually our younger team members, 16, 17-year-olds, are just learning to work, those are the employees that are paid the minimum wage,” he said.
But Purcer said he doesn’t know if in the future if he will be able to afford to hire and train high school aged workers.
“We can’t justify paying them that rate to learn to work,” he said.
Of the 65 workers Purcer employs, about half of them are seeing an increase in pay.
While local businesses are affected, local government is not. Only two county employees are receiving an increase in pay due to the Fair Minimum Wage Act.
“It really doesn’t have an impact on us,” said Gordon County Resources Director, Gara Childress.
Childress said the two employees are students who are employed through a school work program.
“They were already making $7 an hour, so their increase isn’t great,” she said.
The increase could however have a positive impact on the economy. According to Federal Labor statistics released when the Fair Minimum Wage Act was passed, roughly 2 percent of the nation's population earns minimum wage. Some workers stand to earn an extra $100 or more a month, stirring up hopes that with extra money rolling in people will be more willing to shop.
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