Minimum wage turns 77 Economics for Everyone April 8, 2015 Traditions

Began in SEATAC (2013) In Seattle, Kshama Sawant ran on a campaign for City Council, $15 an hour, rent control, taxing the wealthy and on an openly socialist platform. Socialist Alternative helped push through the $15/hour wage raise – although it was watered down when it finally passed.

1.Effect on turnover and productivity 2.Effect on unemployment The major studies (2010, 2014) found no adverse employment effects of minimum wages increases. People spending more money locally, increases demand for products, leading businesses to hire more workers Push for higher employment policies 3.Effect on prices Researchers found a small one-time price increase in the restaurant industry (0.7% increase due to a 10% increase in the minimum wage) 4.Effect on small businesses Tax breaks for small businesses (not franchises)

1.Increases earnings for workers at the low end of the labor market, the majority of whom are adults. 1.Wage compression: reduces inequality, pushes up the floor 1.Women and workers of color benefit disproportionately. Raising the minimum wage would: reduces child poverty among female- headed households close the gender pay gap 2.Low-wage workers and their families are often forced to rely on public assistance programs – what is not said, is that these wages subsidize big businesses. These government subsidies increase corporate profits.

Demonstrators rally for better wages outside a McDonald's restaurant in Chicago, Thursday, Dec. 5, Demonstrations held in 100 cities are part of push by labor unions, worker advocacy groups and Democrats to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

How do struggles for raising the minimum wage need to connect to long-run struggles? Universal Health care Quality Housing for All Free Education K-Ph.D. Guaranteed Income Shorter work-week Social movement unionism Maximum Wage

Chanting ‘Black Lives Matter,’ Protesters Shut Down Part of Mall of America Dec 20, 2014 (Associated Press)

Studies on the Minimum Wage Local Minimum Wage Laws: Impacts on Workers, Families, Businesses Report prepared for the Seattle Income Inequality Advisory Committee March 2014 Michael Reich, UC Berkeley Professor of Economics and Director, Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, UC Berkeley The Impact of Raising the minimum wage on Women (White House 2014) The Effects of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income Congressional Budget Office, February, 2014 “some jobs for low-wage workers would probably be eliminated” Minimum Wage Effects Across State Borders: Estimates Using Contiguous Counties Arindrajit Dube, T. William Lester, and Michael Reich, Nov The Economic Effects of a Citywide Minimum Wage (2007) Dube et.al find a shift from part-time to full-time jobs, and a large increase in worker tenure, and an increase in price among fast food restaurants. Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania David Card and Alan Kreuger, 1994 “We find no indication that the rise in the minimum wage reduced employment”

Impacts: Net effects, short term and long term Does raising the minimum wage lead to job loss? Case studies find: no or small effects New Jersey & Pennsylvania case study (1994; 2000) by former White House economic adviser Alan Krueger and Berkeley economics professor David Card demonstrated that raising the minimum wage does not lead to an appreciable decline in employment. (Similarly with Dube, Naidu, & Reich‘s 2007 San Francisco area study). Neumark and Wascher (2000) find a negative effect using payroll data provided by restaurants in those two states. Opponents of a higher wage have invoked a recent study by the Congressional Budget Office that argued a raise in the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10, as President Obama has advocated, might cost up to 500,000 jobs. But even that study said that the raise would increase the wages of 16.5 million Americans — at least 33 times the number of those who might lose jobs — and elevate 900,000 people out of poverty. Minimum Wage Effects Across State Borders: Estimates Using Contiguous Counties (2010), a major study that found no adverse employment effects of minimum wages increases by studying counties that cross state lines.

Sources pdf pdf dwomenreportfinal.pdf dwomenreportfinal.pdf Minimum-Wage-New-Years-Day-2014.pdf?nocdn=1 Minimum-Wage-New-Years-Day-2014.pdf?nocdn=1 setting-a-new-standard-for-big-cities.html setting-a-new-standard-for-big-cities.html mcdonald-s-welfare mcdonald-s-welfare