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Saturday, April 28, 2018

Inflation Is Here.. Get Used To It!

I stopped to grab a burger in Marin County today and was kind of shocked to see the following posted on the front door...

That is a pretty steep starting wage for non-skilled labor, and $5.00 more than the California minimum wage.

In-N-Out does pay their employees well. The private burger chain pays store managers an average yearly salary of more than $160,000 with no college degree or previous management experience required. Facebook engineers soon to be flipping burgers.
Nonbinding

It is clear the minimum wage in California is nonbinding — that is irrelevant — and all the bluster about raising it would cause unemployment is just that, bluster.

During softer economic times, when the minimum wage is binding, the story changes. Not now, however.

Passing It On

Nevertheless, it did feel prices have risen for a burger, fries, and soda since the last time I was in an In-N-Out. I think it cost me around $8.50 today.

Does anyone remember the days of a $.35 Big Mac?
Real Minimum Wage Higher

Here is what is interesting about that $16.00 per hour offer.

In 1980, the minimum wage was $3.10 per hour, which equates to $9.94 in today’s inflation-adjusted dollars. The minimum wage is $11.00 in California, so a slight increase in the real wage.

If In-N-Out is forced to pay almost 50 percent above that to attract decent burger flippers and the company can pass it on in higher prices, inflation cometh is here, folks.

Other firms will have to pay higher wages to keep and attract their workers if In-N-Out is going to start bidding up the labor market.

We are happy for the entry-level workers, high school, and college kids that now have a higher return on their labor. However, that is only half the story.

Many of the lower paid workers are not entry-level.

Some, reemployed from much higher paying jobs, some are seniors who cannot afford retirement.

We suspect, though wages are raging at the lower end, companies are laying off older expensive workers and hiring younger cheaper workers to keep labor costs in check, and is one reason why the official wage numbers are not spiking. We are not certain on this and have to further research it.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We are not certain on this and have to further research it."

then stfu because now your article is nothing but fake news BS.

Anonymous said...

I remember befor the big mac a Mc Donalds regular burger was 15 cents.That was around 1956 or 57 maybe a year or 2 later.