Rogersville,TN.- The raising of minimum wage has been a topic of debate for some time now.

The
minimum wage in the state of Tennessee has been $7.25 since 2007 and a state lawmaker from Hawkins
County believes it should remain the same.
Representative Gary Hicks said, “My biggest concern about raising the minimum wage is
that it would encourage the current trend of laziness and have a negative impact on our local
economy.”
Tennessee is one of the five states without its own minimum wage law, causing the state
to abide by the federal standards. According to an article from Tennessean in 2016, about 7.4
percent of Tennessee’s workforce earns at or below the minimum wage. That percentage is the
highest number of minimum wage workers from one individual state in the country.
One major argument against raising minimum wage is that an increase in wages does not
always increase work ethic.
According to the Employment Policies Institute, for every 10 percent increase in the
minimum wage, there was a 4.6 to 9 percent decline in teenage employment.
Minimum wage just does not affect one demographic. All kinds of people work for
minimum wage, not just one particular group. According to a news release by the Bureau of
Labor Statistics in 2018, “Summer employment rates of black, white, and Hispanic teens fell by
24 to 28 percent over the past 8 years.”
As Representative Hicks said, a raise in the minimum wage could have a negative effect
in the economy. Local business owner Scott Collins agrees with what Hicks said.
Collins said, “I have a convenient store that would force me to increase a candy bar
from a $1.19 to $1.99.”
Raising the minimum wage would not just only just affect the economy financially, but it
would also affect the number of jobs available.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, “The Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) predicts that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 could possibly cost the economy
500,000 jobs. Of those 500,000 jobless employees, businesses could see a decrease in goods and
services being purchased.”
Representative Hicks said, “As prices rise, Hawkins County residents would prioritize
their spending and habits. This leads to less jobs and even lay offs.”
If companies can’t afford to pay higher minimum wages for employees, they could turn to
automation technology so they can dismiss hiring people from low-skilled services.
According to a 2013 Oxford University study by Carl Frey and Michael Osborne, “robots
are already performing many simple service tasks such as vacuuming, mopping, lawn mowing,
and gutter cleaning.”
Collins also said, “Four years ago, a bill was introduced in the Tennessee legislature to
increase minimum wage to around 10 dollars. I was against it then, and I’ll remain against it.”
According an article by minimum-wage.org, in 2015, state representative G.A. Hardaway
introduced a bill to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 from its current $7.25. However, the bill
failed in committee.
 Collins explained that he is grateful for the jobs that do pay above minimum wage. They
serve as a reminder for what comes with hard work. Those who work hard become masterful in
their trade and earn more money.
Collins said, “Tennessee is blessed to have many industries that currently pay above
$12 to $15 per hourly wage. We have the automotive and parts industry throughout the state,
and other similar high tech industries throughout the state. There are many high scale paying
jobs that force other industries that are not paying the higher wage to get in line with the pay
scale to keep current highly qualified people in their jobs.”