Raising the minumum wage WORKS! End POVERTY WAGES!!!!!!!

[Busybody]

Surprise! Leftist minimum wage policy backfires in Seattle suburb



The Emerald City may witness the economic dangers of hiking the minimum wage to $15/hour sooner rather than later. SeaTac, a suburb of Seattle, hiked the minimum wage for certain service industry employees to $15 at the beginning of the year, and there are already signs that the sudden increase is having a negative impact.

Earlier this month, Seattle voted to raise its minimum wage gradually to $15 by the year 2020. Unlike the SeaTac wage hike, Seattle’s hike will apply to all businesses.

But 15 minutes south near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, employees are already seeing the negative effects of such a hike. A February report from the Seattle Times revealed:


At the Clarion Hotel off International Boulevard, a sit-down restaurant has been shuttered, though it might soon be replaced by a less-labor-intensive cafe…

Other businesses have adjusted in ways that run the gamut from putting more work in the hands of managers, to instituting a small “living-wage surcharge” for a daily parking space near the airport.

That’s not all. According to Assunta Ng, publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly, some employees are feeling the pinch as employers cut benefits. She recalls a conversation she had with two hotel employees who have been affected by the wage hike:


“Are you happy with the $15 wage?” I asked the full-time cleaning lady.

“It sounds good, but it’s not good,” the woman said.

“Why?” I asked.

“I lost my 401k, health insurance, paid holiday, and vacation,” she responded. “No more free food,” she added.

The hotel used to feed her. Now, she has to bring her own food. Also, no overtime, she said. She used to work extra hours and received overtime pay.

What else? I asked.

“I have to pay for parking,” she said.

I then asked the part-time waitress, who was part of the catering staff.

“Yes, I’ve got $15 an hour, but all my tips are now much less,” she said. Before the new wage law was implemented, her hourly wage was $7. But her tips added to more than $15 an hour. Yes, she used to receive free food and parking. Now, she has to bring her own food and pay for parking.

The Washington Policy Center, a free market think tank, said the passed-but-not-yet-implemented wage hike is already affecting small businesses in Seattle:


After decades in Seattle, Northwest Caster and Equipment recently made the difficult decision to move the business to unincorporated Lynnwood, according to a report by KOMO news. The owner of the family business blames Seattle’s increasingly difficult business climate for the move: “It just seems like increasingly the city’s become a more difficult place to do business.”

The city’s proposed $15 minimum wage was tops on the list of complaints. “If I’m going to bring someone in on an entry level, I’d prefer to start them out where I’d like to start them out, rather than having that dictated to me.”

A commercial property landlord echoes those concerns about the $15 minimum wage, noting several tenants have signaled they may not renew their leases if it becomes law: “It’s just too expensive to operate in the city.”

And in a story today, KUOW reports that small businesses throughout the city are panicking over the super high minimum wage. Multiple small business owners told KUOW they are holding off on opening new business or expanding their current business in Seattle, while others said they are delaying plans to hire new workers.

The minimum wage hike, coupled with other anti-business regulations and red tape, are causing headaches for Seattle’s job creators. And unfortunately for those entrepreneurs in Seattle and other major cities, liberal policies like minimum wage hikes and high taxes are constantly threatening economic prosperity, giving entrepreneurs reasons to move their jobs to suburbs or completely shutter their businesses altogether.

 

[miles]

If the new law benefits just one person, it's a success.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Kiosks...





... the owner will be wiping tables.

 

[CountvonCount]

It seems like they've been raising the wages to $ 15 a bit too abrupt instead of doing it slowly by little rises and that does indeed hurt your economy. Not the smartest thing that they could've done in the economic times that are still rather unpredictable.

If the new law benefits just one person, it's a success.

It might benefit some people but if it hurts more than it benefits I can't see why it'd be a success.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

If the new law benefits just one person, it's a success.

You're referring to the politician who wants to be reelected for his well-intentioned statute.

 

[Busybody]

it's a success.

because it makes MORE PEOPLE dependent on WELFARE, hence DUMOH VOTERS

 

[Busybody]

we toldya

remember?

you called us RACISTS

 

[unregistered]

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

Surprise! Leftist minimum wage policy backfires in Seattle suburb



The Emerald City may witness the economic dangers of hiking the minimum wage to $15/hour sooner rather than later. SeaTac, a suburb of Seattle, hiked the minimum wage for certain service industry employees to $15 at the beginning of the year, and there are already signs that the sudden increase is having a negative impact.

Earlier this month, Seattle voted to raise its minimum wage gradually to $15 by the year 2020. Unlike the SeaTac wage hike, Seattle’s hike will apply to all businesses.

But 15 minutes south near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, employees are already seeing the negative effects of such a hike. A February report from the Seattle Times revealed:


At the Clarion Hotel off International Boulevard, a sit-down restaurant has been shuttered, though it might soon be replaced by a less-labor-intensive cafe…

Other businesses have adjusted in ways that run the gamut from putting more work in the hands of managers, to instituting a small “living-wage surcharge” for a daily parking space near the airport.

That’s not all. According to Assunta Ng, publisher of the Northwest Asian Weekly, some employees are feeling the pinch as employers cut benefits. She recalls a conversation she had with two hotel employees who have been affected by the wage hike:


“Are you happy with the $15 wage?” I asked the full-time cleaning lady.

“It sounds good, but it’s not good,” the woman said.

“Why?” I asked.

“I lost my 401k, health insurance, paid holiday, and vacation,” she responded. “No more free food,” she added.

The hotel used to feed her. Now, she has to bring her own food. Also, no overtime, she said. She used to work extra hours and received overtime pay.

What else? I asked.

“I have to pay for parking,” she said.

I then asked the part-time waitress, who was part of the catering staff.

“Yes, I’ve got $15 an hour, but all my tips are now much less,” she said. Before the new wage law was implemented, her hourly wage was $7. But her tips added to more than $15 an hour. Yes, she used to receive free food and parking. Now, she has to bring her own food and pay for parking.

The Washington Policy Center, a free market think tank, said the passed-but-not-yet-implemented wage hike is already affecting small businesses in Seattle:


After decades in Seattle, Northwest Caster and Equipment recently made the difficult decision to move the business to unincorporated Lynnwood, according to a report by KOMO news. The owner of the family business blames Seattle’s increasingly difficult business climate for the move: “It just seems like increasingly the city’s become a more difficult place to do business.”

The city’s proposed $15 minimum wage was tops on the list of complaints. “If I’m going to bring someone in on an entry level, I’d prefer to start them out where I’d like to start them out, rather than having that dictated to me.”

A commercial property landlord echoes those concerns about the $15 minimum wage, noting several tenants have signaled they may not renew their leases if it becomes law: “It’s just too expensive to operate in the city.”

And in a story today, KUOW reports that small businesses throughout the city are panicking over the super high minimum wage. Multiple small business owners told KUOW they are holding off on opening new business or expanding their current business in Seattle, while others said they are delaying plans to hire new workers.

The minimum wage hike, coupled with other anti-business regulations and red tape, are causing headaches for Seattle’s job creators. And unfortunately for those entrepreneurs in Seattle and other major cities, liberal policies like minimum wage hikes and high taxes are constantly threatening economic prosperity, giving entrepreneurs reasons to move their jobs to suburbs or completely shutter their businesses altogether.

If her wages were increased, why would she care about not getting overtime? Why was the employer paying her overtime to stand around & do nothing?

 

[doubleover]

If her wages were increased, why would she care about not getting overtime? Why was the employer paying her overtime to stand around & do nothing?

You have no reading comprehension.

She was a cleaning lady.

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

You have no reading comprehension.

She was a cleaning lady.

You're using the term "reading comprehension".
What does her being a cleaning lady have to do with how much she makes per hour?

 

[Que]

If her wages were increased, why would she care about not getting overtime? Why was the employer paying her overtime to stand around & do nothing?

Since I doubt she hired a firm to do a cost/benefit analysis, I would guess she looked at her check with the lower wage but more hours, and then she looked at the new and improved wage with less hours and notices that she now makes less.

Her employer did not have her standing around and doing nothing. She was doing her job... Now her employer found another part time maid to take care of the duties that she used to eagerly do for the extra money.

It also makes even MORE sense now for her employer and others to risk fines by exploiting undocumented workers who will definitely do this sort of work for FAR less than $15 plus 7.065%.

This is what is called "unintended consequences."

I know...lets help this woman...her check should have GROWN...so lets raise the minimum wage to $20 to cover the money she loses because the employer can no longer afford to pay her for extra hours at $22.50 an hour.

Of course that makes cleaners on overtime cost $30 an hour...

Oh hell, lets just make it $100. Think of how prosperous that town will be if all their janitorial staff makes a million dollars every 5 years...

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

Since I doubt she hired a firm to do a cost/benefit analysis, I would guess she looked at her check with the lower wage but more hours, and then she looked at the new and improved wage with less hours and notices that she now makes less.

Her employer did not have her standing around and doing nothing. She was doing her job... Now her employer found another part time maid to take care of the duties that she used to eagerly do for the extra money.

It also makes even MORE sense now for her employer and others to risk fines by exploiting undocumented workers who will definitely do this sort of work for FAR less than $15 plus 7.065%.

This is what is called "unintended consequences."

I know...lets help this woman...her check should have GROWN...so lets raise the minimum wage to $20 to cover the money she loses because the employer can no longer afford to pay her for extra hours at $22.50 an hour.

Of course that makes cleaners on overtime cost $30 an hour...

Oh hell, lets just make it $100. Think of how prosperous that town will be if all their janitorial staff makes a million dollars every 5 years...

Great, show me the math. If her wage was $7.25 an hour & goes up to $15 an hour, please show me how she makes less working a normal work week without OT under the new minimum wage.

Yes, her employer was paying her to stand around & do nothing. Unless her employer is now just renting out rooms without cleaning them.

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

It also makes even MORE sense now for her employer and others to risk fines by exploiting undocumented workers who will definitely do this sort of work for FAR less than $15 plus 7.065%.

E-Verify.

 

[doubleover]

You're using the term "reading comprehension".
What does her being a cleaning lady have to do with how much she makes per hour?

Sorry, I forgot that you think college professors can't have tenure.

No sense in arguing with the mentally challenged.

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

Sorry, I forgot that you think college professors can't have tenure.

No sense in arguing with the mentally challenged.

I've never said that.


I agree ,which is why I'm not arguing with you. For it to be an argument you'd have to make some kind of point.

 

[CountvonCount]

For the intererested ones:

http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jeffreydorfman/files/2014/04/minwageshare2.png​

This would be the gain for a single mother with one child according to Jeffrey Dorfman writing for Forbes. The government actually benefits more of this raise than the employees themselves.

(http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffrey...-higher-effective-tax-rate-than-1-percenters/)

That's without talking about the jobs that will be replaced by machinery because of all this.

 

[unregistered]

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

People forget that demand is flexible and substitutions exist.

Yesterday, for example, I coulda bought a McDonalds Meal for $7.50, instead I grilled a 1/3rd pound ground chuck patty, made some fries, and pulled a Coke outta the fridge. My total cost was around $2.50 The $5.00 I didn't spend stayed in my pocket.

 

[Que]

Great, show me the math. If her wage was $7.25 an hour & goes up to $15 an hour, please show me how she makes less working a normal work week without OT under the new minimum wage.

Yes, her employer was paying her to stand around & do nothing. Unless her employer is now just renting out rooms without cleaning them.

You really don't read so well do you?

Someone ELSE is now getting this valued employees hours. How do I know she was valued?...because her employer would rather have HER doing the job at whatever her wage was (you have no idea what it was...anywhere from 7.25 to $14.99) than a new entry level wage worker for $7.25.

EVERY employee now costs $15 an hour whether it is the one who started last week or the one with 10 years of diligent service.

And now to have her do that job (or anyone else on overtime) costs $22.50.

I am wasting my time on math if you cannot get the basic concept of a bigger check before and a smaller one now.

We have no idea what is on her W4...what her combined household income, how many dependents...does she have charitable contributions.... Does she work a few months out of the year? so any "showing you" is speculation.

Lets say she made $12 an hour full time...that is an annual gross of $24,960 versus her new improved base of $31,200. The difference is $6240. Divide that by 18..you get 346 hours 40 minutes. divide that by 52 you get 6 hours and 40 minutes a week. So if she was working 7 hours a week or more in OT she was better off before.

Oh? you don't like that version?

How about this one:

"Alice" was working full time. at $7.25. Before she hits overtime she is making $290 a week. Rather than work TWO full time jobs, Sally's understanding boss lets this hardworking employee covers other peoples vacation times and absences for an additional 30 hours a week on average. She saves the commute time between jobs, scheduling difficulties, extra babysitting hours, etc... the extra 30 hours at $10.88 really helps her budget at another $326.25 a week for a total of $616 a week...her bi-weekly check is $1232. By the way far from having Alice do "nothing" she is also learning to man the front desk when it is slow and other duties and is being considered for the management training program. And like you say can't rent out a dirty room, so they have to stay till all the rooms are clean of course...that's HOW she ends up with overtime as well... So now that the gov't in it's infinite wisdom has decided to interfere...

Management looked at the books. They had 6 hard working people on their housekeeping staff...alice was the hardest working averaging 70 hours a week, but the total cost (before employment taxes) was running $3000 per week on average. included in that hour was 115 overtime hours...

In order to hold that budget item steady at 3000 @$15 per hour it was determined that the housekeeping would no longer allow any employee to accumulate more than 29 hours to avoid overtime and the coming Obamacare mandates. All housekeeping would have to get done in a maximum of 200 hours. a 7th person is required to insure that no employee exceeds 29 hours...and 8th is needed to cover for possibilities of absences or scheduled time off. So 200 hours dived by 8 people is 25. 25 x15 x2 is $750 per 2 week paycheck.

The truth is somewhere between those two extremes.

And we have not accounted for the fact that an entry level worker at 7.25 pays no taxes...a $15 an hour entry level worker does.

Of course to get the same work done in 200 hours that used to take 346 hours means that they are going to be choosing from a wider pool of applicants because fit, college students WILL clean rooms for $15 an hour that might have turned up their noses at $7.25. THey will be expected to move quickly, and consumer complaint on any room is an immediate dismissal. This makes the customer quality control, used to be that Margire, the most senior on staff worked full time training and supervising and inspecting each room before a guest was assigned. Now we are down to 306 hours, and Margie, who has been there for 15 years is expected to keep up with the younger crew as hours will be assigned based on a performance metric determined by average rooms each person cleans per hour. They used to have one member of staff available untill 10pm in case a guest needed service like a spill or sheets changed or someone got sick in a stairwell, Those duties after 5:00 will be absorbed by management staff. the lowest paid on the management staff are making 16.50 an hour and are not happy about the additional duties, but now we are down to 271 hours of work hours... the remaining 71 hours have to come from increased productively of the staff. Maybe they can close the pool, eliminate the free breakfast? Will guests stay in a neighboring town instead?

Cliff notes: you could wade through all of the above nitpick the FUCK out of it and we could argue endless scenarios, or you could get off your self-righteous high-horse and not assume that you know more about whether her check was bigger or smaller than it was before.

But of course as a liberal YOU know what is best for her. The burden is on everyone else to PROVE to your satisfaction that your dumb policies don't have real world negative consequences.

A single anecdote of someone helped by Obamacare is probative...a hundred examples of people hurt by it is just a distraction.



E-verify only works if the employer is USING IT! If the employer is using exploited workers he doesnt TELL the government he is doing it. He also doesn't pay his half of fica.

 

[Que]

Great, show me the math. If her wage was $7.25 an hour & goes up to $15 an hour, please show me how she makes less working a normal work week without OT under the new minimum wage.

Yes, her employer was paying her to stand around & do nothing. Unless her employer is now just renting out rooms without cleaning them.

My favorite part of your inconsistency and condescension here is that you are both sure that Alice "deserves" to have her hourly rate doubled, (you assume staff is only worth what the government MAKES and employer pay and that a raise for meritorious service is impossible and that every maid you have ever passed in a hotel makes $7.25,) and you also assume that she could have and should have been working faster. Which is it?

 

[Que]

Most people whether they are minimum wage employes or not have no idea about how increments on the with-holding table affects their net check and their eventual end of the year "tax return" as people have come to call the free loan most people give to the feds.

The tables are wrong on purpose. One, it leaves a rolling unearned balance in the Treasury, and Two, it means that 46% of the public mistake Uncle Sam for Santa Claus and the few days in the mail after the Jan 31st with December 25th.

 

[unregistered]

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

You really don't read so well do you?

Someone ELSE is now getting this valued employees hours. How do I know she was valued?...because her employer would rather have HER doing the job at whatever her wage was (you have no idea what it was...anywhere from 7.25 to $14.99) than a new entry level wage worker for $7.25.

EVERY employee now costs $15 an hour whether it is the one who started last week or the one with 10 years of diligent service.

And now to have her do that job (or anyone else on overtime) costs $22.50.

I am wasting my time on math if you cannot get the basic concept of a bigger check before and a smaller one now.

We have no idea what is on her W4...what her combined household income, how many dependents...does she have charitable contributions.... Does she work a few months out of the year? so any "showing you" is speculation.

Lets say she made $12 an hour full time...that is an annual gross of $24,960 versus her new improved base of $31,200. The difference is $6240. Divide that by 18..you get 346 hours 40 minutes. divide that by 52 you get 6 hours and 40 minutes a week. So if she was working 7 hours a week or more in OT she was better off before.

Oh? you don't like that version?

How about this one:

"Alice" was working full time. at $7.25. Before she hits overtime she is making $290 a week. Rather than work TWO full time jobs, Sally's understanding boss lets this hardworking employee covers other peoples vacation times and absences for an additional 30 hours a week on average. She saves the commute time between jobs, scheduling difficulties, extra babysitting hours, etc... the extra 30 hours at $10.88 really helps her budget at another $326.25 a week for a total of $616 a week...her bi-weekly check is $1232. By the way far from having Alice do "nothing" she is also learning to man the front desk when it is slow and other duties and is being considered for the management training program. And like you say can't rent out a dirty room, so they have to stay till all the rooms are clean of course...that's HOW she ends up with overtime as well... So now that the gov't in it's infinite wisdom has decided to interfere...

Management looked at the books. They had 6 hard working people on their housekeeping staff...alice was the hardest working averaging 70 hours a week, but the total cost (before employment taxes) was running $3000 per week on average. included in that hour was 115 overtime hours...

In order to hold that budget item steady at 3000 @$15 per hour it was determined that the housekeeping would no longer allow any employee to accumulate more than 29 hours to avoid overtime and the coming Obamacare mandates. All housekeeping would have to get done in a maximum of 200 hours. a 7th person is required to insure that no employee exceeds 29 hours...and 8th is needed to cover for possibilities of absences or scheduled time off. So 200 hours dived by 8 people is 25. 25 x15 x2 is $750 per 2 week paycheck.

The truth is somewhere between those two extremes.

And we have not accounted for the fact that an entry level worker at 7.25 pays no taxes...a $15 an hour entry level worker does.

Of course to get the same work done in 200 hours that used to take 346 hours means that they are going to be choosing from a wider pool of applicants because fit, college students WILL clean rooms for $15 an hour that might have turned up their noses at $7.25. THey will be expected to move quickly, and consumer complaint on any room is an immediate dismissal. This makes the customer quality control, used to be that Margire, the most senior on staff worked full time training and supervising and inspecting each room before a guest was assigned. Now we are down to 306 hours, and Margie, who has been there for 15 years is expected to keep up with the younger crew as hours will be assigned based on a performance metric determined by average rooms each person cleans per hour. They used to have one member of staff available untill 10pm in case a guest needed service like a spill or sheets changed or someone got sick in a stairwell, Those duties after 5:00 will be absorbed by management staff. the lowest paid on the management staff are making 16.50 an hour and are not happy about the additional duties, but now we are down to 271 hours of work hours... the remaining 71 hours have to come from increased productively of the staff. Maybe they can close the pool, eliminate the free breakfast? Will guests stay in a neighboring town instead?

Cliff notes: you could wade through all of the above nitpick the FUCK out of it and we could argue endless scenarios, or you could get off your self-righteous high-horse and not assume that you know more about whether her check was bigger or smaller than it was before.

But of course as a liberal YOU know what is best for her. The burden is on everyone else to PROVE to your satisfaction that your dumb policies don't have real world negative consequences.

A single anecdote of someone helped by Obamacare is probative...a hundred examples of people hurt by it is just a distraction.



E-verify only works if the employer is USING IT! If the employer is using exploited workers he doesnt TELL the government he is doing it. He also doesn't pay his half of fica.

All that is super, but that's not what I asked.

Yes, we do know exactly what minimum wage was before. So we can use those numbers.

If there was 50 hours of work to be done, and she now only works 40 hours. That work isn't getting done, or never needed to be done.

You're arguing against established math.

 

[SgtSpiderMan]

My favorite part of your inconsistency and condescension here is that you are both sure that Alice "deserves" to have her hourly rate doubled, (you assume staff is only worth what the government MAKES and employer pay and that a raise for meritorious service is impossible and that every maid you have ever passed in a hotel makes $7.25,) and you also assume that she could have and should have been working faster. Which is it?

Uh, I NEVER said that.