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&lt;p&gt;Is it more important for those with jobs to make more money or is it more important to create more jobs that might pay a little less money?&#160; That’s an interesting question that seems to be the issues around a new bill that requires a pay increase for a number of employees working in New York City.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The bill, put forward by Councilman G. Oliver Koppell and Councilwoman Annabel Palma, both of the Bronx, would force city-subsidized companies that receive at least $1 million to pay their employees a base wage of $10 an hour plus benefits or $11.50 an hour without benefits.&#160; That’s a lot of money an hour when you consider that minimum wage in NYC is $7.25 an hour, although the actual increase would be about $1.66 for 34,000 to 62,000 workers, according to one study.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The study, which was authored by the Charles River Associates consulting firm and released by the Mayor Michael Bloomberg administration, really takes this bill to task projecting that a large percentage of retail development projects would not go forward, resulting in the lost of anywhere between 6,000 and 13,000 “low-skilled jobs.”&#160; Over time, even more jobs could be lost.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Opponents of the study, which includes a majority of City Council members, labor leaders, and community activists, among others, who believe the wage increase is an important step to battling a poverty rate in New York City that has risen to 20%.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Proponents of the study note that there has been a 2.2% decrease in employment amongst these “low-skilled workers” in cities where similar policies were adopted.&#160; A fight in the Bronx over a mall that was to be built in a largely unused armory building, revolved around demands that those who worked on the project receive a living wage of $10 an hour.&#160; As a result, the project was scrapped resulting in the loss of a large number of retail jobs that would have resulted from the mall’s construction.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;How would you approach this issue?&#160; When I was unemployed and my bills went up, I looked for things to cut to make up for the loss.&#160; HBO, Showtime and Cinemax went out the window.&#160; Restaurants I frequented often no longer received my business.&#160; More expensive wine was replaced by Two-Buck Chuck from Trader Joe’s.&#160; Even when they increased my Netflix subscription, I found a way to off-set the costs.&#160; It’s the same philosophy.&#160; Faced with higher costs, companies might choose to halt work on a project if they consider it cost prohibitive.&#160; At the same time, they could also hire less workers to off-set the increased wages they face.&#160; Those who know how to make money know how to save money and it usually means finding ways to spend less or passing on the costs to the lower-class.&#160; That said, it stands to reason that forcing employers to pay more would be off-set in some way,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;But should hard-working people continue to sacrifice just because the economy is still faltering?&#160; Should they continue to make less money in the hopes that their sacrifice will lead to the creation of more jobs, which would lead to a better economy and more money-making opportunities in the future?&#160; By seeking more money, are they inadvertently hurting the economy?&#160; In a world, where you need to take what you can get now, because it might not be there in the future, can you really blame workers for wanting more?&#160; What do you think?&#160; Let us know&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;--Jon Minners, Vault.com&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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