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The boost that comes from raising the minimum wage (Washington Post Column)
Washington Post ^ | 05/22/2014 | By Harold Meyerson

Posted on 05/22/2014 6:46:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

The standard argument — really, the only argument — against raising the minimum wage is that it will lead to job loss. The argument is beloved by die-hard opponents of raising the wage because it provides them with a veneer, however flimsy, of concern about the welfare of the working poor.

Economic studies have repeatedly shown that argument to be spurious. Now the latest survey of 350,000 small businesses from Paychex, a payroll provider company, and IHS, a business analysis firm, provides strong indications that the exact opposite may be true.

In April, the Paychex/IHS survey, which looks at employment in small businesses, found that the state with the highest percentage of annual job growth was Washington — the state with the highest minimum wage in the nation, $9.32 an hour. The metropolitan area with the highest percentage of annual job growth was San Francisco — the city with the highest minimum wage in the nation, at $10.74.

This suggests that the relationship between a high minimum wage and job creation needn’t be inverse. If anything, it suggests that relationship is direct.

To be sure, the Bay Area economy is booming, but minimum-wage opponents would nonetheless have us believe that mandating the payment of close to $11 an hour must cause job loss at least in fast-food joints and Chinatown’s kitchens. San Francisco shouldn’t be creating more small-business jobs than any other city. It’s theoretically impossible.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: minimumwage
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1 posted on 05/22/2014 6:46:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

They don’t count jobs lost, because you can’t. All they say is that the remaining jobs pay more on average. Duh.


2 posted on 05/22/2014 6:49:52 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government." --Tacitus)
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To: SeekAndFind
To be sure, the Bay Area economy is booming, but minimum-wage opponents would nonetheless have us believe that mandating the payment of close to $11 an hour must cause job loss at least in fast-food joints and Chinatown’s kitchens.

Because for high cost areas like SF and Seattle the market wage for low skill labor is above the minimum wage. Also, how many of the those Chinatown kitchen jobs are under the table .

3 posted on 05/22/2014 6:52:36 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Why not raise it to $100/hr and we would all be rich...lol.


4 posted on 05/22/2014 6:52:48 AM PDT by RGF
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To: SeekAndFind

Lets make it $100. Prosperity is just around the corner.


5 posted on 05/22/2014 6:52:50 AM PDT by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s clear from this column that Mr. Meyerson has never made a payroll. His bio at http://www.haroldmeyerson.com/ confirms it.


6 posted on 05/22/2014 6:54:50 AM PDT by Huntress ("Politicians exploit economic illiteracy." --Walter Williams)
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To: SeekAndFind

Economic studies have repeatedly shown that argument to be spurious.

There are a number of “economists” that went to ivy league schools and thus did not learn anything about economics.


7 posted on 05/22/2014 6:55:34 AM PDT by logic101.net (How many more children must die on the altar of gun control?)
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To: SeekAndFind
Wages are an expense. If an enterprise's expenses exceed revenues, the company ceases to exist and it no longer employs anyone.

Expenses > Revenue = No Jobs

Expenses < Revenue = Jobs

8 posted on 05/22/2014 6:56:51 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The more numerous the laws, the more corrupt the government." --Tacitus)
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To: SeekAndFind

Oh....Harold.

9 posted on 05/22/2014 6:57:19 AM PDT by BookmanTheJanitor
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To: SeekAndFind
The standard argument — really, the only argument — against raising the minimum wage is that it will lead to job loss. The argument is beloved by die-hard opponents of raising the wage because it provides them with a veneer, however flimsy, of concern about the welfare of the working poor.

What a great opening paragraph. Dismissive, arrogant, misleading, questioning of motives, setting up a straw man. This is the type of article written to make Libs feel good about themselves. Its bile dressed up as intellectualism.

10 posted on 05/22/2014 6:58:19 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: SeekAndFind

Harold, you ignorant slut.


11 posted on 05/22/2014 6:58:27 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: logic101.net

Meyerson only points out the infamous Kruger study of NJ/PA fast food places as the basis of his “repeatedly” claim. The others studies he cites are not peer review papers.


12 posted on 05/22/2014 6:58:53 AM PDT by C19fan
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

They also don’t count the jobs that were NEVER created to begin with. For them it is a great advantage.
The plain fact is that GOVERNMENT cannot “create” private sector jobs. All any government can, and is charged with doing, is to “create” an atmosphere than encourages business to exist, to grow, to hire, and to plan for the future.
This can be easily understood by studying the governments of states that see ever shrinking economies and those that have created that atmosphere which encourages. These are the states that are magnets for business.
As for small business, the greatest job “creator”, countless thousands are keeping a lid on their own growth.
Let any business hire just ONE too many workers, and they become the target-of-the-day for a division of government regulators and bureaucrats.


13 posted on 05/22/2014 6:59:24 AM PDT by CaptainAmiigaf (NY TIMES: We print the news as it fits our views.)
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To: SeekAndFind

That cart is doing a great job of pushing the horse. The practical minimum wage is much higher in those cities, much as during some boom times fast food restaurants would advertise on their signs pay above minimum wage. If it takes $10 per hour to get a minimum skill employee to apply, then a legal minimum wage of $9.50 will have no effect either positive or negative.


14 posted on 05/22/2014 7:00:29 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Republican amnesty supporters don't care whether their own homes are called mansions or haciendas.)
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To: SeekAndFind
found that the state with the highest percentage of annual job growth was Washington

I am dubious about this statistic.

Energy-related states like North Dakota and Texas can't FIND enough workers right now.

15 posted on 05/22/2014 7:00:52 AM PDT by wbill
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To: SeekAndFind

Studies of a macroeconomic nature fail to incorporate extraneous data that could easily skew the results, and might also be subject to the fallacy of confusing causation with commonality.

Looking at the minimum wage from a microeconomic viewpoint allows one to bring in values that are sometimes referred to as common sense.

To wit: A man owns a sandwich shop. He makes a dollar profit on each sandwich he sells. A worker can produce nine sandwiches per hour. The owner pays him eight dollars an hour, and clears a buck an hour on his production. If the minimum wage goes to ten dollars an hour, the worker must be laid off.

Another: It’s a pain in the neck to mow my lawn. It takes me four hours to do the job. The kid next door offers to do it for 30 dollars. I agree. He’s making $7.50 an hour. What if the minimum wage were enforced at the rate of $15 an hour, as it is at SeaTac Airport in Washington State? Would it be worth it to me to pay the boy $60? What if it were raised to $25 an hour, as they tried to do in Switzerland? Is it worth $100? At some point, depending upon my financial situation and my degree of laziness, I will say, “Forget about it! I’ll mow the lawn myself!”


16 posted on 05/22/2014 7:01:29 AM PDT by TruthShallSetYouFree (Jay Carney: The (Benghazi) emails weren't about Benghazi.)
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To: SeekAndFind

One might ask the author, why not a minimum wage of $1000/hr or $1M?


17 posted on 05/22/2014 7:04:16 AM PDT by rightwingcrazy
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To: SeekAndFind

THIS is the “boost” that comes from hiking the minimum wage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfKbaX4jE9U


18 posted on 05/22/2014 7:05:39 AM PDT by ScottinVA (Obama is so far in over his head, even his ears are beneath the water level.)
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To: rightwingcrazy
Because we'd end up like this:


19 posted on 05/22/2014 7:06:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

..And the only objection to Gas Chambers is that they killed Jews.


20 posted on 05/22/2014 7:06:52 AM PDT by MuttTheHoople (Ob)
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