Guilty Consciences?

Philip Davies MP recently suggested that one consequence of minimum wage legislation is that it is much harder than it would otherwise be for handicapped people to get jobs, and he went on to say that some mentally handicapped people had told him that they would be prepared to work for a lower wage if that would secure them a job.

The reaction was an astonishing tirade of abuse and vituperation.

I suspect the anger was partly a screen for guilty consciences.

Increasing the cost of anything is likely to reduce demand for it, so raising minimum wages is likely to produce more unemployment. Supporters of the minimum wage may consider it has other advantages that outweigh that disadvantage, but anyone who thinks we can avoid the disadvantages altogether must be numbered among the drippy optimists who think we need only pass a law to make all things bright and beautiful.

I notice a spokesman for ‘Mind’ denounced the suggestion as ‘preposterous’. It is easy to understand how employees of that charity might feel uncomfortable at the prospect of some of their dependents getting jobs and thereby becoming less dependent. There might then be fewer jobs for employees of ‘Mind’