Letter: Minimum wage hike would hurt new hires

“Last hired, first fired,” will be the operative phrase if the $15 minimum wage proposal becomes enacted legislation next year (“Legislature should raise minimum wage to $15 without delay,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Nov. 7).

It’s already been proven in California, as the latest hires and young teenagers in their first jobs are let go because employers can’t afford the higher minimum wage. Additionally, prices will increase because now business overhead has increased.

In order to remain profitable, prices will have to go up to pay the higher salaries of those entry-level employees.

Hawaii can’t afford to have a $15 minimum wage. We don’t need another “price of living in paradise” burden.

Bob Gillchrest

Kaunakakai, Molokai

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