Quote:
Originally Posted by frahse
The Unforseen Problems with $15 per hour
The Analysis goes on and on. I can hear the discussions in the business schools now, and of course the politicians will have their say.
Still it is a good discussion to have.
|
There is little unforseen in the discussion.
It is a long-running debate going back decades.
And the consequences are well documented.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/b...imum-wage.html
https://pjmedia.com/trending/2016/02...s-into-effect/
(Note that the Seattle increase was local so a lot of business just moved jobs outside the city. Not an option under a federal hike.)
The biggest part of the problem is they keep forgetting the "minimum" part of minimum wage. And that living costs are different across the country. Forcing every business in every town to pay San Francisco wages will kill entire businesses elsewhere, like bookstores. Since book prices are printed on the cover bookstores don't have the option to raise prices. Not every community has big tech companies pouring cash into their economies. Some have to get by with farming, manufacturing, and service industries.
Other businesses have similar problems because price elasticity means higher prices lead to lower traffic. Sit-down family restaurants are fragile enough that even slight economic downturns kill them by the dozen.
Blind one size fits all advocacy is a surefire mess in the making.