Do you think the Federal minimum wage should be $15 per hour?

[Laelth]

37. No, not the point you were making, no.

Instead, it was the point you might want to hear. In fast food, for example, labor accounts for about 20% of cost, so one could double the minimum wage and increase the price of a hamburger by 20%. In this case, the owners would make the same amount of profit, but their employees would have double the money to spend. It would work similarly across the economy. Doubling the minimum wage will make the cost of good and services go up, but the cost should not double (or even nearly double) Across the board, one might expect a 33% increase in the cost of goods and services, while millions of people will have twice as much money to spend. We would all be richer as a result.

Note, however, that education is an exception. At the elementary and secondary levels, payroll accounts for nearly 90% of the cost of keeping schools open. A wage increase, therefore, would dramatically increase the cost of primary and secondary education.

-Laelth