It's just not that simple. In business, about the only thing set in stone is expected profit margins. Everything else must ebb and flow around that. An increase in labor costs can be offset in many ways. Increase of sales, increase of price, decrease in quality, a reduction in overhead, etc, etc. And yes.. one of those options is a reduction in staff. But it's certainly not the only one. Specifically when discussing mega corporations. Does McDonald's need to have the largest marketing budget in the world? Is there a man, woman, or child that hasn't heard of the place yet? Sounds like a good place to recoup some of that revenue, eh? And do I still need $1 cheeseburgers after a decade on the menu? Would I lose my shit if that cheeseburger jumped to $1.25? Nah. Sounds like another good place to recoup some revenue, eh? My point is that layoffs are the easy way for for mega corporations to publicly threaten and scare the community into influencing legislation. We're being played. And that should upset you. Granted, the real concern does come from small business. A jump in the minimum wage will effect these companies more than any other. And layoffs are often the easiest way for these companies to compensate. But again, not the only way. During the recent recession, the company I worked for cut back on things like new equipment and maintenance. Instead of paying high costs for these things, we did our own maintenance and kept equipment running as well as possible until the market turned around. We made it five years without a layoff lasting more than three months. Anyway, I could go on and on about this. It's a very complex issue with many things to consider. There's no easy answer here. Good thread, longface.