[quote=CA renter]
And in places where they’ve raised the minimum wage, often to some of the highest levels in the country…the calamity predicted by all of the right-wing economists didn’t happen.
I read the article and it seems fairly inconclusive to me. Only 1,600 people received wages and it’s a small community. Just because a hotel tries to expand to make up for the increased expense doesn’t necessarily mean it will work out. It could work but it’s too early to know. I think different parts of the country can withstand higher minimums and other parts might not. Seattle’s a fairly wealth place it might be able to withstand $15/hr, or maybe not I’m not really sure but I’d like to see the results. And not the results 6 months into it, more like 3 or 4 years.
It’s easy to say let’s help those poor workers with higher wages but ignore the possible unintended consequences. I want to understand those consequences. There’s definitely numerous factors in play fore any economy. Tax rates, natural resources, number of established businesses, weather/living conditions, wage rates, quality of talent etc. Opening a venture capital software company might not makes a lot of financial sense in the bay area due to tax laws, but it might make sense for other reasons. It hard to account for all that other stuff when looking at one input factor like minimum wage.
The only thing that really matters with minimum wage policy is can you shrink profit margin of the business paying minimum wage, without causing business closure and a loss of jobs.
