Posted on 01/19/2014 9:34:07 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
Think $4 toast is bad? Try $6 toast, with no one to serve it to you.
A survey on one major Bay Area city's minimum-wage hike and its negative impact on businesses could be a warning sign for San Francisco leaders who are seeking to boost the nation's already-highest minimum wage.
In San Jose, a 25 percent minimum-wage hike last year led to higher prices for consumers and fewer hours for workers at restaurants, according to a survey conducted by the Employment Policy Institute, a conservative Washington, D.C.-based
Meanwhile, leaders in San Francisco -- which has a $10.74 minimum wage -- are calling for The City's lowest-paid workers to take home even more, possibly $15 per hour. And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, has repeatedly called for an increase to the federal minimum wage.
"It's just bad public policy," said Michael Saltsman, the EPI's research director. "It's a warning for San Francisco -- and it's a warning for Congress."
The survey results echo warnings made by some economists before San Jose bumped the wage floor from $8 to $10 last year that the well-intentioned move would hurt job creation.
Out of the 163 South Bay restaurants surveyed, 108 -- or two-thirds -- raised prices after the $10 minimum wage took effect. Another 73 reduced workers' hours, and 69 restaurants cut staff entirely.
The notion of increasing San Francisco's minimum wage to $15 an hour is getting more traction. The influential San Francisco Labor Council recently called for such a figure.
San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee -- who has repeatedly said that $10.74 an hour is inadequate pay in a city where lower- and middle-class earners are struggling to compete -- said Friday in his State of the City speech that he plans to put a minimum wage hike...
(Excerpt) Read more at sfexaminer.com ...
It was intended by the founders that the states should be laboratories for experimentation. I’m all for California following every demented liberal truism and social experiment. It may be that the whole purpose in life for some of us is to serve as a horrible cautionary example for others.
There...fixed. Since the Great Depression, minimum wage increases have always increased the unemployment rate for the very people it's intended to help. Alas, most of the people affected couldn't blow their nose if their brains were made of dynamite.
Why not make the minimum wage $1 million / hour. Than everyone can work 1 hour and retire a millionaire! Yay!
Wonder if the author or editor make minimum wage? Good grief.
If the editor kant ketch grammar mistakes then they should “loser” their yobs...
If the minimum wage is ever increased, watch more Americans stay at home to eat!
The editer, he new skool. You old skool. He don not right in cursiv eether.
Prolly duh tooth...
Guess what’s the average San Francisco city pension? [ It’s 2x the average wage in SF ]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2737296/posts
If you can’t find an employer who judges your productivity to be significantly greater than the “Minimum Wage,” then you are unemployed - and your wage defaults to the true minimum.
Namely, zero.
At some point it becomes worthwhile for retirees and others not normally working for minimum wages to go after these jobs. Being more qualified, reliable and not wanting to be unionized (some won’t even require health insurance) they could suck up many minimum wage jobs held by the young and immigrants.
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