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Seattle's $15 Minimum Wage May Be Hurting Workers, Report Finds (usatoday.com)
As companies look for ways to cut costs, Seattle's $15 minimum wage law may be hurting hourly workers instead of helping them, according to a new report. From a USA Today article: A report (PDF) from the University of Washington (UW), found that when wages increased to $13 in 2016, some companies may have responded by cutting low-wage workers' hours. The study, which was funded in part by the city of Seattle, found that workers clocked 9 percent fewer hours on average, and earned $125 less each month after the most recent increase. "If you're a low-skilled worker with one of those jobs, $125 a month is a sizable amount of money," Mark Long, a UW public-policy professor and an author of the report told the Seattle Times. "It can be the difference between being able to pay your rent and not being able to pay your rent."
Negative --- Forbes just came out with the counter-argument that this study was invalid since they didn't research all the workers, just 60%. Must cover all the workers or at least 95%.
Multi-national and nationwide chains are excluded from the study by NBER.
Surprise!
Those are the target audience of tax-supported employers
Worthless "Study"
The Washington study considers MANY more data points.
If you exclude all the employees from businesses that have multiple locations, then focus only on single-location businesses that are under pressure by the excluded businesses, you're pretty much guaranteed to get that result.
The UCB study was paid for by the Mayor after he saw an early draft of the UW post. Check the Seattle Weekly article on the topic. The UCB report is pure BS.
http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/seattle-is-getting-an-object-lesson-in-weaponized-data/
The UW study is a BS. Instead of just looking into the actual data (it's not compatible with the aim of the study as it shows improvements in wages and jobs) they created a "fantasy Seattle". Then they compared the growth of wages and employments in this "fantasy Seattle" with the reality. Then they tweaked the model to produce the numbers they want - they omitted minimum-wage workers from chain franchises.
And lo and behold! The model shows slightly more growth than the real Seattle.
He started as a Marxist until he actually did some research.
If you say so. The video is just an excerpt from an audiobook, so I went looking for something a little more substantial in video form... which I did not find. I did find a lot of articles though, and this guy is partisan as shit. If he "started as a Marxist," it was a very long time ago.
30% of the entire U.S labor market is low-wage service jobs and that number has been steadily climbing. There just isn't enough jobs up the "ladder" for everyone that works hard and plays by the rules. FYI research shows a strong correlation between higher minimum wage and lower rates of turnover, something about people getting a decent wage makes them more likely to appreciate their jobs. Who knew
Absolutely conclusive evidence until you read the rebuttals. Like the fact that his data excluded all restaurants (almost 35% of minimum wage jobs), excluded any business with more than one location, etc, etc, etc. Just remember, figures never lie but liers can figure.
The data set the researcher used was substandard at best, someone might even argue the data set was cooked to extract the desired result.On top of that he refuses to provide the data to outside users and reviewers making his "research" a fucking black box. But he was at least honest and listed all the problems with the data, just didn't include why excluding more than a 1/3rd of low wage jobs in the study area was a good idea.
https://www.washingtonpost.com...
When I was starting my family out my neighbor was section8 + all the other social support.
She was the stereotype to a T. Three kids by three different men, all spaced 5 years apart (First 5 California), had cable, had a car, had a cell phone.
She needed help with her paperwork one day and asked me to help, so I saw all the numbers. I did a P&L for her and compared it with a P&L for me and you know what? I was working my ass off for $13/hr (1999) and she was bringing home about $100 per month more than me sitting at home doing nothing. Hugely frustrating to me, but of course if she actually got a job it would be min wage and she'd lose at least twice as much in benefits as she'd have earned. The system is desperately broken, but I haven't the foggiest how to fix it.
Now, where I live public transit is shit. Jobs are spaced out. A car is kinda needed. A low end cell phone on a cheap plan is cheaper than a land line now. I get it, but the system still keeps people dependant.
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Working hard and playing by the rules has never been a recipe for anything but modest success at best
Yet this is the delusion under which a large number of Americans labor, and the ruling class perpetuates.
"What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)