Bloomberg: Minimum-Wage Foes Tripped Up by Facts

[think]

Minimum-Wage Foes Tripped Up by Facts

DEC 7, 2016 12:05 PM EST
By Barry Ritholtz

We interrupt this holiday season to revisit the minimum-wage experiment going on in various cities and states, paying special attention to those opposed to plans by some locales to eventually adopt a $15 hourly wage.

~Snip~

The modern minimum-wage debate traces back to the seminal 1993 research by Alan Krueger and David Card. The two economists looked at employment in the fast-food industry when minimum wages were raised in one market but not in the adjacent market. Their studies found no reduction in job growth in the market where pay was increased, and in fact, the opposite occurred. Many subsequent studies confirmed their findings -- modest increases in minimum wages don’t lead to job losses.

~Snip~

The extent to which taxpayers subsidize profitable public companies that game the safety net is serious business. One study noted that U.S. fast-food workers receive more than $7 billion a year in public assistance; another pegged the Wal-Mart taxpayer subsidy at more than $6 billion. Alan Grayson, a former congressman from Florida, observed:

In state after state, the largest group of Medicaid recipients is Walmart employees . . . the same thing is true of food stamp recipients. Each Walmart ‘associate’ costs the taxpayers an average of more than $1,000 in public assistance.

Read more:
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-12-07/seattle-s-higher-minimum-wage-hasn-t-hurt-jobs-or-business

[WhiteTara]

1. Facts never stopped a puke from doing

what is terrible for as many people as possible.

[underpants]

2. Excellent article. Bookmarking.

Thanks. Rec'd

[Doreen]

3. Many many years ago when I got a job

at Walmart one of the things they handed you was a list of all of the government agencies to go to to get help. That there was a admission that they in no way were going to pay you enough to just barely survive. They do offer medical by the way. For me it would have cost $600 a month and you did not even get half of what you get with Medicare. If people got living wages they would not need help and would not cost other tax payers money. Now we have a government coming in that wants to take all of that away, decrease minimum wage and raise the prices on everything. We are fucked. Pardon the language but I just had to say it.