PoliticalChic
Diamond Member
Politicians with the usual desire to look as though they know what they are doing, are eager to impress entry-level workers...even if the bill would be counterproductive in terms of creating jobs....
1. After weeks of sniping between labor advocates and business leaders, a City Council committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on a controversial bill to boost salaries for workers.
2. The living wage bill, as it is called, would force businesses that get tax breaks from the city to pay workers $10 an hour, plus benefits up from the federal minimum hourly wage of $7.25.
3. The measure has strong support from labor, but has been denounced by business leaders and Mayor Bloomberg, who branded it a job killer.
City Council to hold hearing on controversial living wage bill - NY Daily News
But, this from the NYObserver:
4. The Bloomberg administration fears that the plan would slow development in the city, but backers are pointing to cities where they say the experiment has succeeded: San Francisco and Los Angeles.
5. Ken Jacobs, the chair of the University of California at Berkeley Labor Center recently conducted a study about San Franciscos experience with living wage, and he found that:
The verdict is clear: labor standards policies of the kind San Francisco put in place improve workers income, productivity and health, reduce turnover and decrease job vacancies; they have not reduced the number of jobs.
San Francisco Pushes New York City Council on Living Wage | The New York Observer
Then, again:
"Using government data from January 1979 to December 2004, the effect of minimum wage increases on retail and small business employment is estimated. Specifically, a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 0.9 to 1.1 percent decline in retail employment and a 0.8 to 1.2 percent reduction in small business employment.
These employment effects grow even larger for the low-skilled employees most affected by minimum wage increases. A 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 2.7 to 4.3 percent decline in teen employment in the retail sector, a 5 percent decline in average retail hours worked by all teenagers, and a 2.8 percent decline in retail hours worked by teenagers who remain employed in retail jobs.
These results increase in magnitude when focusing on the effect on small businesses. A 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 4.6 to 9.0 percent decline in teenage employment in small businesses and a 4.8 to 8.8 percent reduction in hours worked by teens in the retail sector."
The Effect of Minimum Wage Increases on Retail and Small Business Employment | EPI Study
Think it might be political rather than economic?
But, isn't everything....
1. After weeks of sniping between labor advocates and business leaders, a City Council committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on a controversial bill to boost salaries for workers.
2. The living wage bill, as it is called, would force businesses that get tax breaks from the city to pay workers $10 an hour, plus benefits up from the federal minimum hourly wage of $7.25.
3. The measure has strong support from labor, but has been denounced by business leaders and Mayor Bloomberg, who branded it a job killer.
City Council to hold hearing on controversial living wage bill - NY Daily News
But, this from the NYObserver:
4. The Bloomberg administration fears that the plan would slow development in the city, but backers are pointing to cities where they say the experiment has succeeded: San Francisco and Los Angeles.
5. Ken Jacobs, the chair of the University of California at Berkeley Labor Center recently conducted a study about San Franciscos experience with living wage, and he found that:
The verdict is clear: labor standards policies of the kind San Francisco put in place improve workers income, productivity and health, reduce turnover and decrease job vacancies; they have not reduced the number of jobs.
San Francisco Pushes New York City Council on Living Wage | The New York Observer
Then, again:
"Using government data from January 1979 to December 2004, the effect of minimum wage increases on retail and small business employment is estimated. Specifically, a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 0.9 to 1.1 percent decline in retail employment and a 0.8 to 1.2 percent reduction in small business employment.
These employment effects grow even larger for the low-skilled employees most affected by minimum wage increases. A 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 2.7 to 4.3 percent decline in teen employment in the retail sector, a 5 percent decline in average retail hours worked by all teenagers, and a 2.8 percent decline in retail hours worked by teenagers who remain employed in retail jobs.
These results increase in magnitude when focusing on the effect on small businesses. A 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 4.6 to 9.0 percent decline in teenage employment in small businesses and a 4.8 to 8.8 percent reduction in hours worked by teens in the retail sector."
The Effect of Minimum Wage Increases on Retail and Small Business Employment | EPI Study
Think it might be political rather than economic?
But, isn't everything....