I’m about half way through my Information Literacy course and it’s just about time to choose a research topic for my big project. I always hate having to choose a topic to study. It’s difficult to decide on something that I want to learn about in depth. I am curious about a lot of things, but I’m not necessarily excited to spend a lot of time on one thing. Maybe I’ve just become too used to the vague awarenesses that I collect. Is that a feature of our generation? Or is it a feature of my personality? If I feel I know how to acquire additional information on a topic, I often won’t. I could do it in the future if I wanted to, so there’s no need to do it now, right?

So yeah, I have to actually pick something and delve deep for once. I’m contemplating doing something on minimum wage laws. It’s a very contentious issue though slightly less so now, since there was an increase not long ago. I do have to wonder, in this economy, how much pain has the new minimum wage caused? Is it partly to blame for the job losses and underemployed worker levels? Combined with the poor lending climate, can small businesses really afford to keep their staff level steady? If a full time person quits or retires, are they more likely to only hire a part time replacement?

One problem I see with the minimum wage law is that is makes certain wages sound like less. Before the increase went into effect $8.50/hr didn’t sound too terrible as an entry level retail wage. It was several dollars above the minimum! Now, it’s not even $2 above the minimum. I know, it sounds like a silly argument in the grand scheme, but perception and ‘consumer confidence’ has a real effect on the way people operate. There are also a lot of arguments about how higher minimums price low skill workers out of the workforce. If a business is forced to pay $7.25/hr for a worker, they will probably look for a person they feel is worth that investment. Thus the increased minimum sometimes hurts the exact people it is most intended to help.

It does seem like it might be an interesting subject. We shall see.