The cost of $17

There's been a rise in the minimum wage, as ABC News reports:
The nation's lowest paid workers will receive an extra $17 a week following the Industrial Relation Commission's (IRC) minimum wage case hearing.

The IRC brought down the 3.6 per cent increase in Melbourne in what is expected to be its final ruling on the minimum wage.

The ruling will lift the minimum wage from $467.40 to $484.40.

The full bench of the Industrial Relations Commission says the increase for the nation's lowest paid workers strikes the right balance between fair pay and continued economic growth.

The Commission described union demands for an extra $26.60 a week as "excessive".
However, this could quite possibly be self-defeating in every way:
A $17-a-week increase in the minimum wage was bad news for the economy and could put upward pressure on interest rates, the nation's peak business group said today.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's economics and tax director, Michael Potter, said his organisation had real concerns about the rise.
Any interest rate rise at all will put up the monthly repayments on home and/or car loans of low income earners by more than they got from this decision. It also lowers the value of the house, so when they want to sell, they'll end up getting less than what they paid for it. They'll be more likely to lose their job than before the raise, because increases in the minimum wage causes disemployment.

The ACTU's push for a rise of $26.60 shows once again how unions will go out of their way to punish the poorest workers in the long-term for the sake of a short-term gain.

(Cross-posted to The House Of Wheels.)

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