Is Amazon’s Minimum Wage Move a Political Ploy?

Amazon raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour for each employee.

This was a move by Jeff Bezos that lacks any altuistic motives. Instead, it was done to push the government to step in and force his competitors to raise their wages also.

While this could be good for the employees, it will end up forcing those competitors that cannot afford that rate out of business. This only helps Amazon.

Couple that with the fact that Amazon is already automating warehouses in China means that it is only a matter of time before they are paying $15 per hour to very few employees.

Bezos is no fool. He will reduce his headcount, and step up his automation effort to eliminate as many low-skilled jobs from Amazon. Then he will lobby Congress to increase the minimum wage for his competitors that still employ lower-skilled workers. As these competitors will lack the resources to automate, they will be driven out of business, and all their workers will lose their jobs. Less competition will make it easier for Amazon to raise prices.

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