AI
Thursday, September 14, 2017 4:37:57 AM
mr40, How a Rising Minimum Wage Affects Jobs in Seattle
By NOAM SCHEIBERJUNE 26, 2017
[...]
Angela Stowell, an owner and the chief executive of Ethan Stowell Restaurants, which has about 300 employees in 14 restaurants around the city, said it was too early to judge the effect of the minimum-wage law because it was still being phased in. But she said the chain had not reduced hiring because of the higher employee costs, though it has increased some menu prices and instituted a 20 percent service fee.
“Of the 20 restaurateurs I am close friends with in Seattle,” she said, “none have told me they are hiring fewer staff due to the increased minimum wage.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/business/economy/seattle-minimum-wage.html?mcubz=0
There are warnings in there as to the veracity of some research you would be wise to keep in mind.
--
Australia shows why raising the minimum wage doesn’t always fix poverty
McDonald's burger flippers in Australia earn AUD$19.45 an hour. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
Luke Ryan
August 01, 2016
Amid all the doom and gloom of this peculiar, frightening US election cycle, one of the few shining lights has been the emerging bipartisan support for a raise to the federal minimum wage. Such a gesture is well overdue—the current federal minimum wage in America, set in 2009, is a paltry $7.25 per hour. When you take inflation into account, it’s lower than it was back in 1968.
The logic of lifting the minimum wage seems ironclad: More money for low-paid workers means less poverty and a stronger consumer economy. But if we look at the example set by the country with one of the highest minimum wages in the world—my homeland of Australia—you start to see that things aren’t quite as simple as that. There’s still an excellent argument to be made for raising the minimum wage, but it may not be the anti-poverty one that its most ardent proponents believe. Instead, we could be better served by seeing the minimum wage as the salvation of America’s fading middle class (and what’s left of the American dream).
[...]
...the strength of our minimum wage has led to a comparatively equal society, a metric where the United States usually comes in last among developed nations. Ensuring that those who are fully employed can afford the basics of life has led to a strong and resilient middle class: Australia leads the world, with some 66% of the population falling into this bracket. America, meanwhile, languishes far behind, with only 38% of the population qualifying as middle class.
Few dispute the need to raise the American minimum wage from its present level. But the amount of the increase depends on the candidates’ policy priorities. Is the minimum wage a gesture towards restoring the stability of the middle class? Or is it a tool to try and bring the poverty-stricken in from the cold? The answer should obviously be some balance between the two. But in the febrile, slogan-rich environment of a US presidential election, especially one as charged with working class discontent as this, nuance can be a rare commodity.
https://qz.com/747814/other-countries-have-sorted-out-their-minimum-wage-woes-why-not-america/
That position on the middle class fits snugly with DesertDrifer's
"Every worker is worth $15. It is survival level. Below that, their income is supplemented by our tax dollars in one
way or another, so... you feel the business community should not participate in reducing government spending?"
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=134604100
All of which goes toward social stability, too.
By NOAM SCHEIBERJUNE 26, 2017
[...]
Angela Stowell, an owner and the chief executive of Ethan Stowell Restaurants, which has about 300 employees in 14 restaurants around the city, said it was too early to judge the effect of the minimum-wage law because it was still being phased in. But she said the chain had not reduced hiring because of the higher employee costs, though it has increased some menu prices and instituted a 20 percent service fee.
“Of the 20 restaurateurs I am close friends with in Seattle,” she said, “none have told me they are hiring fewer staff due to the increased minimum wage.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/business/economy/seattle-minimum-wage.html?mcubz=0
There are warnings in there as to the veracity of some research you would be wise to keep in mind.
--
Australia shows why raising the minimum wage doesn’t always fix poverty
McDonald's burger flippers in Australia earn AUD$19.45 an hour. (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
Luke Ryan
August 01, 2016
Amid all the doom and gloom of this peculiar, frightening US election cycle, one of the few shining lights has been the emerging bipartisan support for a raise to the federal minimum wage. Such a gesture is well overdue—the current federal minimum wage in America, set in 2009, is a paltry $7.25 per hour. When you take inflation into account, it’s lower than it was back in 1968.
The logic of lifting the minimum wage seems ironclad: More money for low-paid workers means less poverty and a stronger consumer economy. But if we look at the example set by the country with one of the highest minimum wages in the world—my homeland of Australia—you start to see that things aren’t quite as simple as that. There’s still an excellent argument to be made for raising the minimum wage, but it may not be the anti-poverty one that its most ardent proponents believe. Instead, we could be better served by seeing the minimum wage as the salvation of America’s fading middle class (and what’s left of the American dream).
[...]
...the strength of our minimum wage has led to a comparatively equal society, a metric where the United States usually comes in last among developed nations. Ensuring that those who are fully employed can afford the basics of life has led to a strong and resilient middle class: Australia leads the world, with some 66% of the population falling into this bracket. America, meanwhile, languishes far behind, with only 38% of the population qualifying as middle class.
Few dispute the need to raise the American minimum wage from its present level. But the amount of the increase depends on the candidates’ policy priorities. Is the minimum wage a gesture towards restoring the stability of the middle class? Or is it a tool to try and bring the poverty-stricken in from the cold? The answer should obviously be some balance between the two. But in the febrile, slogan-rich environment of a US presidential election, especially one as charged with working class discontent as this, nuance can be a rare commodity.
https://qz.com/747814/other-countries-have-sorted-out-their-minimum-wage-woes-why-not-america/
That position on the middle class fits snugly with DesertDrifer's
"Every worker is worth $15. It is survival level. Below that, their income is supplemented by our tax dollars in one
way or another, so... you feel the business community should not participate in reducing government spending?"
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=134604100
All of which goes toward social stability, too.
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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