JP Morgan Chase is raising it’s internal minimum wage from $10.70 per hour to $12.00 per hour. Jamie chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, writes in the New York Times:
A pay increase is the right thing to do. Wages for many Americans have gone nowhere for too long. Many employees who will receive this increase work as bank tellers and customer service representatives. Above all, it enables more people to begin to share in the rewards of economic growth.
It sounds super noble and it is. JP Morgan Chase has every right to pay their employees whatever they want to, as long as it is equal to or above the mandated minimum wage in every state. Chase’s change to increase training and provide opportunities for employees at lower income levels is laudable.
To keep reading, click here: The Minimum Wage in America Must Rise, So Says Giant Company CEOs
Very interesting article and you make an excellent point, although I would say that sometimes we need government to intervene to “force” corporations to do the right thing. Also interesting is the fact that JPMorgan has eliminated tellers altogether in some of their branches and replaced them with an advanced ATM.
Becky: “sometimes we need government to intervene to “force” corporations to do the right thing.”
But, just who decides what the “right thing” is?
At the same time, some companies pay such low wages that the government effectively subsidizes them with public assistance to their employees. Walmart had been notorious for that at times.
I don’t think it’s all that noble until we can get the CEO:lowest paid ratio back to something that makes sense. CEOs have a lot of responsibility but do they really need to make 200,000 times what a peon makes in their company? Or whatever awful number is happening these days. CEO pay gets higher and higher while other wages don’t rise at all. Yet how could the CEO make so much if the peons weren’t working hard? He depends on them.
I find it very interesting that we have such heartburn about raising wages. This and many other stories, while having some good news about people making more, also include numerous potential negative consequence.
On the other hand when you read a story on corporate cost cutting it is all upside.