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Tuesday, June 27, 2017

A ‘very credible’ new study on Seattle’s $15 minimum wage has bad news for liberals

When Seattle officials voted three years ago to incrementally boost the city's minimum wage up to $15 an hour, they'd hoped to improve the lives of low-income workers. Yet according to a major new study that could force economists to reassess past research on the issue, the hike has had the opposite effect.

The city is gradually increasing the hourly minimum to $15 over several years. Already, though, some employers have not been able to afford the increased minimums. They've cut their payrolls, putting off new hiring, reducing hours or letting their workers go, the study found.

The costs to low-wage workers in Seattle outweighed the benefits by a ratio of three to one, according to the study, conducted by a group of economists at the University of Washington who were commissioned by the city. The study, published as a working paper Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research, has not yet been peer reviewed.

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

very credible source also said Hillary was going to win.

Anonymous said...

Bring in the kiosks.

Anonymous said...

Common sense.
The governments (local, state, and federal) cannot manage the economy.
The economy is a living thing, it changes all the time, it adapts, so on.
It is a human endeavor and is not easily managed.

Anonymous said...

It really shouldn't take an economist to evaluate that any marginal increase in cost equals a marginal increase in revenue, therefore, it comes down to the consumer that pays the costs increase if they feel that such goods and services are worth shelling out the bucks.

Anonymous said...

This is just the beginning!

Anonymous said...

6:53 PM YEA lets make people live in poverty so that we can pay more taxes to subsidize their low wages while corporations post record profits! that'll teach those greedy employees!

Anonymous said...


First regular job for pay in the late 60's. Each and every increase in the minimum wage since has cost some workers hours or their jobs.

Let market forces drive rates. People who are not employable at $10 might be worth hiring at $5. After building skills and a track record, they're promotable at the current job, or can test the market and find an employer willing to pay more.

It's not rocket science now, and it wasn't then.

Anonymous said...

If they are not worth $15 an hour, I cannot hire them.

If they are worth $10 an hour, and trainable to make it to more $ per hour, I can hire them.

Otherwise, they will remain unemployed.

I will hire sub contractors to fall in the empty slots, they take care of their own taxes...

Anonymous said...

On a larger scale, this is the same thing that happened to the union shops. Larger Corporations began losing margins to elevated hourly wages and ever increasing benefits like pensions etc. At risk of being priced out of the economy these corporations moved off shore paying pennies on the dollar to cheap foreign labor. I agree, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this stuff out, pretty much good old common sense. Democrats prove they are not smart business people and really don't understand the concept of economics; if they did they would have a better agenda and message to Americans.

Anonymous said...

LOL