I use the word hate in my title in the context in which it would be used by Democrats were Republicans engaged in some advertised priority they had spun as doing damage to some “protected” class of persons.
In this case, the object of the Left’s abuse is The Poor™ (often referred to inaccurately as ‘working families’), who are being herded around yet another progressive false idol. The higher minimum wage or living wage is a golden calf whose worship is sold as the path to better economic outcomes when it, in fact, delivers exactly the opposite.
Related: Government Meddling with Hourly Wages is Not Necessary
We here at our humble shop have pointed out repeatedly that the ‘Fight for 15’ harms The Poor™, the unskilled, and where they are not the same, the young but New Hampshire Democrats have persisted in ignoring the facts and lying to the public.
This can mean one of two things. These liberals are stupid, or they are evil.
They are stupid for believing that legislators using coercion can make payroll dollars appear out of thin air by statutory fiat without consequence.
The University of Washington reported last year that without even having reached the holy grail or the promised land of minimum hourly wages,
Seattle’s minimum-wage law is boosting wages for a range of low-paid workers, but the law is causing those workers as a group to lose hours, and it’s also costing jobs, according to the latest study on the measure passed by the City Council in 2014.
The same study estimates that there are 5000 fewer jobs in Seattle already, as a result of the forced hike.
Yes, employees (who still have jobs) are making more per hour, but they are bringing home $125.00 fewer dollars per month. A problem that will get worse as the march to the predetermined value of an hour of labor continues. In a city with a huge and growing homelessness problem. Brilliant.
We predicted this, not because we are economic geniuses but because we can do the math and have worked in the real world. For employers that hire at or near the minimum wage, the cost of labor is typically one of their greatest single expenses. Contrary to the narratives crafted by Democrat socialists these are not sinister robber-barons chaining the unfortunate masses to their machines. They are entrepreneurs offering entry-level training for tasks that require almost no previous work experience to start. The pool of people capable of learning those jobs includes nearly everyone breathing.
The rate befits the skills required.
If you snap your fingers and add 40% – 50% to one of an employer’s most significant costs the resources do not appear out of thin air they vanish into it. To keep the business in business managers need to make changes. They hire fewer people and cut hours to get that cost back in line. The people with the fewest skills lose the most because the government has forced the employer to get almost twice as much value out of each hour of labor.
Unskilled workers can’t find work. Those that don’t lose jobs work less. Only people with no clue about how the economy works would try to convince others to let them harm them in this way.
Or, perhaps their intentions are still evil.
Related: NH Mean Hourly Wages: Proof That Less Government Interference Equals More Income?