Posted on 08/13/2019 9:00:31 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
As predicted, the $15 minimum wage is forcing city employers to cut staff, shorten or scrap shifts, hike prices, cancel expansion plans and even close locations.
The mandate took effect Jan. 1 for city businesses with 11 or more employees — and will hit even the smallest businesses come Dec. 31.
Employers say they’re struggling to adjust to the whopping wage boost and making major shifts in plans.
Yes, lefty and union-backed economists released a report last week claiming a local restaurant-jobs boom. But the city’s Independent Budget Office put the 2018 drop at 6,000 jobs, or about 3.4 percent.
Recall that the $15 mandate hit even as lawmakers also slapped employers with other burdens, such as paid sick and medical leave. The load just keeps getting heavier.
If pols keep socking businesses with new costs and regulations, what do they think is going to happen?
Susannah Koteen, who owns the Lido Restaurant in Harlem, says she has cut back on shifts and overtime and raises her prices more frequently now. She also gave up on plans to move to a larger site.
Queens Chamber of Commerce president Thomas Grech specifically blames the $15 mandate for a spike in newly closed small businesses. Employers are “cutting their staff. They’re cutting their hours. They’re shutting down,” he says.
City and state lawmakers keep adding new burdens, always claiming owners can absorb the extra hit. Some, for instance, now want to ditch the state’s special, lower minimum wage for tipped workers (already recently pushed up to $10 an hour for food-service employers with more than 10 workers).
Hitting employers also hits their workers and customers — often worse than any “help” from a mandate: $15 an hour isn’t worth much if it also cuts your hours to zero.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I believe that is an important part of these schemes that goes unnoticed in the larger debate (as you point out), and I also believe it is part of a deliberate move to bolster Social Security. Besides moving the retirement age back, the government can certainly increase receipts through mandated higher wages - and the burden is placed on both employee and employer.
I oppose this $15 minimum wage, but see one possible silver lining: Employers should have a better pool of candidates to pick from. The law will certainly cost some employees their jobs, but the worst employees you’ve ever encountered should be the first to disappear - and that’s OK with me!
Never understood how eliminating all jobs under 15 bucks an hour was billed as a wage increase. The politicians never pony up a dime to increase wages.
oooooooooooo they didn’t think of that did they, just like crap care keep the number of employees below the mark and pay the difference
“A good waiter can do much better, even with an hourly wage of zero per hour.”
What if a restaurant were to use only volunteer waiters? They wouldn’t be employees, so minimum-wage requirements wouldn’t apply to them.
Annual increases for the rest of the state will continue until the rate reaches $15 minimum wage (and $10 tipped wage). Starting 2021, the annual increases will be published by the Commissioner of Labor on or before October 1. They will be based on percentage increases determined by the Director of the Division of Budget, based on economic indices, including the Consumer Price Index.
Bold is mine.
It’s a failure, but do you think leftists will call for a reduction? Never! Whenever leftist laws fail, as they always do, leftists call for a strengthening of the failed laws, which fail, leading leftists to demand a strengthening.... (repeat until infinity).
“At most places a $15 per hour wage does not even begin to replace tip income. A good waiter can do much better, even with an hourly wage of zero per hour.”
Probably not the case where I typically eat, but I won’t argue that it’s true at the more ‘distinguished’ places of eatery.
Bigger paychecks, more benefits, more tax revenue.
My manager son has a cure for bad labor, he cuts hours until they go look elsewhere for a job. They tacked on a delivery charge, and that makes the product more costly, so I just stopped using the place. Pizza joints are a dime a dozen. Especially for a small town, that thrives on Fast Food and Nail salons where no one speaks English.
Either learn enough English for customers use or lose buiness.
When resturants added a 15% surcharge people just stopped going to that resturant. I tip according to service. That goes for nail and hair salons too.
In my area we have the reverse problem; there are still American workers but fewer and fewer American CUSTOMERS.
There is no statistical data to support the assertion that unemployment increases with an increase in the minimum wage. Fake news.
But the city’s Independent Budget Office put the 2018 drop at 6,000 jobs, or about 3.4 percent.
So 96.6% of employees are enjoying an increase in wages. My guess is a tiny few restaurants were marginal and were going to be cutting back anyway.
The minimum wage in 1969 was $1.60/hr and adjusted for inflation would be $11.25/hr. Yeah the min wage is loser issue for Republicans. Start supporting a $12.00/hr as a counter and stop giving the issue to Democrats.
Your “guess.”
I wonder what the average annual failure rate of restaurants is in NYC.
You “wonder.”
Do you you? This is a propaganda piece. Pure BS.
Before you can start dreaming of business success, it’s important to understand the probability of failure. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20 percent of small businesses fail within their first year. By the end of their fifth year, roughly 50 percent of small businesses fail. After 10 years, the survival rate drops to approximately 35 percent.
Minimum wage laws deny free men the right to work...
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