Amendment 2 could hurt people it’s designed to help, one local economist says

Jacksonville FL — Tuesday night, voters in Florida approved amendment two, which will gradually increase the state’s minimum wage up to $15 an hour by 2026. It was approved 60.8% for and 39.2% against. So to get a better look at what you can expect from the new amendment, WOKV reached out to a professor of economics at the University of North Florida to learn what impacts the move will have on the state’s economy.

Dr. Madeline Zavodny says she believes the move will have a negative impact on the state’s economy in the long run. She says when the minimum wage is increased, employers will start to make some cuts in response to the increase.

“So they might lay off some employees, they might reduce hours, they might just hire fewer workers when workers voluntarily quit.” Dr. Zavodny says.

She says the minimum wage increase could be good news for workers in the short term, since they could keep their jobs and not see their hours get cut and their wages would go up. But in the long run, low wage, low educated workers will see their job opportunities dwindle and their wages go down.

Supporters of the minimum wage increase say workers will now be able to have a living wage.

Dr. Zavodny says prices on goods and services will go up in some industries, but the competitive nature of our economy will limit business from doing that.

“If you raise your prices, then ultimately some consumers aren’t going to show up, and so that doesn’t help workers either.” Dr. Zavodny says.

She says she thinks this amendment will have a negative impact for small businesses, especially ones outside of major metro markets.

“In the smaller, more rural parts of the state, $10 an hour is a lot, and over time as it goes up 11, 12 ect. that’s going to become what we call binding on more and more employers.” Dr. Zavodny says.

Currently, the state’s minimum wage is $8.56 an hour, but with the passage of this amendment the wage will up to $10 an hour effective September 30th, 2021.

Cox Media Group