We've all been saying that $15/hr is a job killer...

T

The Sound Guy

Pursuit Driver
But surprising to see this on a non-conservative news site, even if it is an opinion piece. And it explains why big business thinks they can pay it.

Big business backs a $15 minimum wage because it will crush Main Street competitors​


A recent ad in the D.C. media captured one of the most concerning parts of the minimum wage debate. The message wasn’t unusual — a call for Congress to more than double the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour. What was noticeable was the advertiser —Amazon. On this critical issue, big business appears increasingly willing to sacrifice small business, and lawmakers should realize it.

A growing number of major corporations and their trade groups are backing the current legislative push to dramatically raise the federal minimum wage. President Biden has called for more than doubling the federal minimum wage to $15, and Congress is trying to mandate this massive increase in the upcoming pandemic relief package. It’s framed as a matter of supporting workers, but while many big businesses are already paying $15 to all their workers, most small businesses cannot. Passing a wage hike right now would also worsen the pandemic trend of many big businesses thriving while millions of small businesses suffer.

Minimum wage hike will hurt Main Street​

Small businesses know a minimum wage hike is a guaranteed job killer. Congress’s own Congressional Budget Office says a $15 minimum wage would lead to 1.4 million jobs lost. The consequences could actually be worse: In 2019, the NFIB Research Center found that a federal $15 minimum wage would kill 1.6 million jobs. More than 55% of the job losses would be at small businesses, and nearly 45% would be at the smallest firms.

Small business owners care about their employees. Employees are like family, and owners want to help them get ahead. But requiring small businesses to pay a wage they cannot afford is dangerous. That money has to come from somewhere, and on top of lost jobs and fewer hours, there would be less small business support for sponsorships, school music programs and local charity drives. For some small businesses, a more than doubling of labor costs would force them to shut down — a blow to Main Streets across the country

The damage would be even greater after the financial difficulties created by the pandemic. Small businesses have been disproportionately harmed by one-size-fits-all government lockdowns. Hundreds of thousands have already closed forever. Those that have survived to this point are planning for difficult economic conditions in 2021. Mandy King, an NFIB member who runs a childcare center in Colorado recently summed up small businesses’ fear of a minimum wage hike: “Please don’t make it harder than it already is for small businesses like mine to stay open... there’s only so much we can take!”

The story is different for big business. Many large corporations have done comparatively well during the pandemic — see companies like Amazon, Walmart, Target, and many more. Most had the resources to quickly adapt to lockdown life, while some had business models primed for success when families were forced to stay home. Amazon, for instance, made more profit in the first nine months of 2020 than it did in all of 2019. Contrast that number to the devastation in the small business economy.

Big corporations can afford a wage hike, small businesses just can't​

Along with big business lobbying groups, many of these same companies are now actively supporting a minimum wage hike, or at least not opposing it. No wonder: They have the revenues and the scale to absorb a more than 100% increase in the federal wage floor. They also have more options to offset higher costs with layoffs, benefit cuts, and technology.

A lot of big businesses have already raised their minimum wage to $15. Amazon made this move in 2018, while companies like Target and Walmart have followed suit. Not only would a $15 federally mandated minimum wage not hurt them, it would crush some of their small business competitors. The path would be clear for even more market dominance of big businesses and Wall Street, gained at the expense of Main Street.
 
Looks like it will not be there:

WASHINGTON—The Senate parliamentarian told lawmakers Thursday night that a proposed increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour didn’t comply with Senate rules, dealing a blow to Democrats’ efforts to include it in the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.

The parliamentarian, the neutral arbiter of the chamber’s rules, issued guidance saying she thought it didn’t meet the guidelines for reconciliation, the process that Democrats are using to pass their relief plan with a simple majority in the Senate, and would be ruled out of order.

After two tense days of waiting, the ruling from Elizabeth MacDonough, the chief parliamentarian, comes as lawmakers make final changes to the bill so that it falls within the Senate’s rules. The reconciliation process places a number of restrictions on what policy measures can be included in the legislation. It also allows Democrats to pass the legislation without GOP support, provided that they lose no votes among their own ranks.

Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 has been a priority for the party’s progressives, though some moderate Democrats in the Senate had raised concerns about including it in President Biden’s coronavirus relief package. Some had advocated for a smaller increase or voiced concerns about the sharp jump the proposal would mean for tipped wages in restaurants.

Wall Street Journal
 
It just inflates everything.

It is here in CA already. The cost of everything reflects our current $14.00 min wage... it wiped out any advance the people had worked years to get to the $14, from what used to be $7.50...

What was an entry level wage with room to grow... is sort of the top wage.

One of my housekeepers, 15 years with the company was talking and asking me questions. She has been working at our other hotel because they needed some help, they can't find people to hire. The hotel is full from a large government group from the military base. She was complaining that what she made was almost the same as what the other hotel is hiring the new employees, yet she earned raises every year for solid work.

She is right... how do I explain. I told her that all people were paid $14 now, she was given 2 raises last year, one for merit, and one because the minimum went up $1.00 so the owner said increase everyone a dollar. Jan 1st of this year minimum wage went up another dollar, the owner had us increase the people who were above the minimum 50 cents... so she just lost a 50 cent advantage she had prior to the government enforced $14.00 minimum. Last year she stayed even, this year we could not afford to do that.
 
Far West said:
It just inflates everything.

It is here in CA already. The cost of everything reflects our current $14.00 min wage... it wiped out any advance the people had worked years to get to the $14, from what used to be $7.50...

What was an entry level wage with room to grow... is sort of the top wage.

One of my housekeepers, 15 years with the company was talking and asking me questions. She has been working at our other hotel because they needed some help, they can't find people to hire. The hotel is full from a large government group from the military base. She was complaining that what she made was almost the same as what the other hotel is hiring the new employees, yet she earned raises every year for solid work.

She is right... how do I explain. I told her that all people were paid $14 now, she was given 2 raises last year, one for merit, and one because the minimum went up $1.00 so the owner said increase everyone a dollar. Jan 1st of this year minimum wage went up another dollar, the owner had us increase the people who were above the minimum 50 cents... so she just lost a 50 cent advantage she had prior to the government enforced $14.00 minimum. Last year she stayed even, this year we could not afford to do that.
Click to expand...
There's a Concerned Citizens of White County page on FB I participate in. There's a guy on there who seems to believe if the minimum wage passed, everybody will receive that increase regardless of how much they currently make. I told him it doesn't work that way and what history shows to be the same results each and every time the minimum wage has been increased. I provided numbers and other facts. This simple minded fool told me I was only looking at it on the surface.
 
Boss 302 said:
There's a Concerned Citizens of White County page on FB I participate in. There's a guy on there who seems to believe if the minimum wage passed, everybody will receive that increase regardless of how much they currently make. I told him it doesn't work that way and what history shows to be the same results each and every time the minimum wage has been increased. I provided numbers and other facts. This simple minded fool told me I was only looking at it on the surface.
Click to expand...
I will go one step further... I have a guy I would replace tomorrow. He still has a job because his father, who has worked for the company for 30 years, is very well thought of. The other General Managers both told me they got rid of him because he is a sorry worker... in deference of his father, he was given a job again.

The only way his wage has increased is due to the California wage increase mandates. He told me January 7th when he saw his new hourly wage that he is looking forward to next year when he makes $15.00

The sad part now is that all the hard workers, who do not have a job due to nepotism, will be making the same amount as this crappy worker is paid.

When I got here in 2018, he was the lowest paid... it was almost embarrassing ... he had been re-hired in 2013, but not given any raises. Now he makes the same as 2/3 of the workers.

That is the system liberals enable.
 
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