Minimum wage increases hurt Seattle workers...

[Left Seater]

So Seattle has raised the minimum wage for the lowest skilled workers to $15. The law has certain stair step increases until $15 per hour is reached for all. This law was passed back in 2014 and a number of the stair step increases have already been implemented. The city commissioned UW to study the results and in a surprise apparently to the city it found workers taking home less money at the end of the day.

While pay per hour is up, hours worked in such jobs are down. This has resulted in the average low skilled worker taking home 6% less at the end of the day. The study also found that there would be an additional 5,000 jobs in this low skilled category if the artificial wage increase wasn’t in place.

Predictably a liberal professor from Cal Berkeley took exception. However the UW study authors were able to replicate the Cal Berkeley numbers in their methodology as well, pretty much putting the dissenters to rest.

We can hope that someday libs, unions and governments will understand that forced wage increases aren’t the best way forward. Well check that, we may not have to worry about unions much longer as the SCOUS may soon rightfully kneecap unions by making every state effectively a right to work state.


https://www.seattletimes.com/business/u ... ting-jobs/

[Carson]

It's not about what works.

It's about getting votes.

[Left Seater]

I disagree that it is about votes, at least among more liberal democrats that I know.

I think for them and many others it is about feelings and emotion rather than sound business practices or facts. For example, the “living wage” discussion. Never mind we are talking about the lowest skilled and often entry level or exit level workers. Some jobs were never designed to be a career. The kid pumping gas, the retired greeter at my grocery store, the part time working mom at the airport handing out info. None of these jobs were designed to be a career. They are perfect for kids or retired looking for a little extra spending money. Giving these jobs a living wage feels good. But it doesn’t always make sense. The gas station just cuts the full service position, the greeter no longer has a shift between 10am and 3pm when traffic is slower at the store, and the Mom’s Airport info job is only an option when big events or conventions are in town. None of these three are helped by the wage increase to a “living wage” yet they also didn’t need a living wage.

See also gun control. After a sad event where people were killed it feels good to want to put that anger towards something positive. So gun control. Never mind it avoids the real issues and is most often unconstitutional.

See also immigration. It is an emotional response (and condescending) saying some people are just looking to make a better life for themselves. As if they can’t be expected to do it legally or on their own. It feels good to say we will overlook their law breaking and help them be better people.

Maybe it is about votes at a National and state level, but at the local level I think it is all about feelings and emotion.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Minimum wage is a neo-liberal elite strategy to destroy unions and undermine worker's movements. In the same way welfare pacifies the underclass and creates a de facto class barrier.

But you probably weren't aware of that, because you're a passive and uninformed participant.

[Rooster]

The urge to not just stand there, but do something is a uniquely American sentiment (my apologies to Shlomo if this applies to Canadians as well) rooted in what I suspect is our national entrepreneurial spirit. Sadly, what works in business does always apply to every day life where taking some time to consider all the facets of a situation is best.

We see this often in young people who, as Lefty said, react emotionally rather than cognitively to circumstances— one of the prime reasons young people are recruited into the military as cannon fodder and why raising the age for voting, drinking, holding high office, and now, most likely, long gun ownership is de rigeur.

However, turning that adage on its’ head is precisely what our country’s forefathers built into the system when they designed it, knowing that decisions made in the heat of passion most often turn out badly in the long run. Thus, “don’t just do something, stand there!” is solid advice, especially when those advocating the restriction or negation of a natural right as set out in our Constitution is so easily bandied about by those who aren’t yet old enough to buy a beer.

The minimum wage debate follows in that path. While all honest work is honorable, not all honest work is desirable. Manning the Fryolator or ginning up a decaf soy latte made with non-GMO, gluten-free, free range, fair trade civet shat coffee beans, topped with Andean goat milk and cocoa shavings is no way to go through life— unless you own the store. Paying someone to push a broom or handle a shovel for $15 an hour unless the market demands it due to a small labor force, is silliness. After all, what kind of life are you going to have being paid $15 instead of $7.50? Will it make a difference to hipster guy at the coffeee shop? Not likely. The city council should have instead just gone all in and demanded a living wage of $100,000 a year for as much as it costs to live in Seattle— and take it out of Microsoft’s and Starbuck’s hide to cover the cost. That way they could have soaked the rich and felt like they had actually impacted some peoples’ lives gainfully.

[Left Seater]

Minimum wage is a neo-liberal elite strategy to destroy unions and undermine worker's movements.

So the unions are working towards their own destruction and attempting to undermine their membership? Interesting.

But you probably weren't aware of that, because you're a passive and uninformed participant.

Yeah as someone who employs two people making between $10-$15 an hour I am a completely uninformed participant.