{"id":191280,"date":"2021-03-01T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/opinion-raise-the-minimum-wage-to-12-an-hour\/"},"modified":"2021-03-01T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T11:00:00","slug":"opinion-raise-the-minimum-wage-to-12-an-hour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/opinion-raise-the-minimum-wage-to-12-an-hour\/","title":{"rendered":"#\n  Opinion: Raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a35556233324\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a35556233324\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/opinion-raise-the-minimum-wage-to-12-an-hour\/#Higher_wages_would_encourage_more_automation_and_online_shopping\" >Higher wages would encourage more automation and online shopping<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-6' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-6'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-6' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-6'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-6' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-6'><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-6' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-6'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/opinion-raise-the-minimum-wage-to-12-an-hour\/#Further_reading\" >Further reading:<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/opinion-raise-the-minimum-wage-to-12-an-hour\/#Peter_Morici\" >Peter Morici<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;<strong>#<br \/>\n  Opinion: Raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour<br \/>\n<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"article__subhead\" itemprop=\"alternativeHeadline\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Higher_wages_would_encourage_more_automation_and_online_shopping\"><\/span>\n  Higher wages would encourage more automation and online shopping<br \/>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"column column--full article__content\">\n<div id=\"js-article__body\" class=\"article__body article-wrap at16-col16 barrons-article-wrap\" itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-sbid=\"WP-MKTW-0000182506\">\n<div class=\"barrons-article-ad-wrapper\">\n<div data-track=\"barrons-article-ad-wrap\" class=\"barrons-article-ad sticky_item\">\n<div class=\"barrons-main-article-ad-target sticky_target body_ad\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>       Democrats want to\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/biden-to-outline-covid-19-relief-package-next-week-11610134395\" class=\"icon none\">raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour<\/a>\u00a0to address inequality, but that might not be the best way to fix that problem.<\/p>\n<p> Conservative\u2014and many politically moderate\u2014economists don\u2019t like governments fixing prices above what market forces would require, because it wastes resources\u2014<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cato.org\/sites\/cato.org\/files\/pubs\/pdf\/tbb_0707_47.pdf\" class=\"icon none\">too much milk from dairy price supports<\/a>\u00a0and too much unemployment from the minimum wage.<\/p>\n<div class=\"paywall\">\n       Longitudinal studies\u00a0show moderate increases in minimum wages don\u2019t necessarily cause im<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">media<\/a>te bleeding of jobs to neighboring jurisdictions. However, substantially increasing the minimum in low-income regions\u2014like rural Mississippi or upper Michigan\u2014would be quite different than nudging wages a bit in economies likely to enjoy robust growth as COVID recedes\u2014like metro areas in Florida and Texas.<\/p>\n<p>In the latter places, wages paid starting workers are <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a>ly closer to $15 an hour already and the effects of the current federal standard on labor markets are minimal or in some places nonexistent.<\/p>\n<p>Among voters the idea gaining traction is that it is better to assist the working poor by offering higher paying employment opportunities than enhanced government benefits financed with increased taxes on more affluent Americans. Conservative-leaning\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/policy-and-politics\/2020\/11\/5\/21549857\/florida-minimum-wage-amendment-2\" class=\"icon none\">Florida recently approved a $15 minimum wage,<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.epi.org\/minimum-wage-tracker\/\" class=\"icon none\">30 states and the District of Columbia<\/a>\u00a0have enacted higher minimum wages than the federal standard.<\/p>\n<p>In places like\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/modeledbehavior\/2015\/08\/20\/higher-minimum-wages-in-san-francisco-and-seattle-mean-fewer-restaurant-jobs\/?sh=3a302c095820\" class=\"icon none\">San Francisco<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nber.org\/system\/files\/working_papers\/w23532\/w23532.pdf\" class=\"icon none\">Seattle<\/a>\u00a0economic studies documented that abruptly raising the minimum wage caused significant restaurant closures and job losses.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Counterpoint:<\/strong> Small businesses benefit when wages rise<\/p>\n<p>Dramatic shifts disturb wage patterns for workers further up the wage ladder. For example, it\u2019s tough to raise the pay of a counter clerk at McDonald\u2019s $2 an hour without also raising the pay of the shift manager.<\/p>\n<p>When raised by Congress in 2009 to $7.25 per hour, the minimum was about 33% of average wage paid hourly workers as computed by the BLS. Boosting it to $15, even\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/15-minimum-wage-would-cost-1-4-million-workers-jobs-lift-900-000-from-poverty-cbo-study-finds-11612800875?mod=hp_lead_pos4\" class=\"icon none\">over several years as proposed<\/a>, would take it much closer to 50% of the average rate, cause a ripple of rising wages throughout the hourly workforce and inflation, which would negate some of the benefits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Opinion: <\/strong>This company pays its workers a $70,000 minimum salary, and that\u2019s helping it weather the coronavirus crisis<\/p>\n<div id=\"cx-membership-tile\"><\/div>\n<p>Depending on the initial new minimum, indexing the federal standard could build an inflationary spiral into the economy whose consequences are difficult to anticipate.<\/p>\n<p>In low-wage markets, raising McDonald\u2019s<br \/>\n        MCD,<br \/>\n        <bg-quote field=\"percentchange\" format=\"0,000.00%\" channel=\"\/zigman2\/quotes\/203508018\/composite\" class=\"negative\">-1.68%<\/bg-quote><br \/>\n       <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.workstream.us\/blog\/mcdonalds-pay-hourly-workers\" class=\"icon none\">starting pay for servers to $15 an hour<\/a>\u00a0would increase\u00a0labor costs about $8 an hour\u2014including add-ons for payroll taxes and unemployment insurance\u2014and increase\u00a0the cost\u00a0of a quarter-pound hamburger meal from about $6 to $8.<\/p>\n<p>Take-out restaurants, drugstores and groceries in cities where minimum wages have been set high are relying more on computer-assisted check out to save on labor costs and avoid raising prices enough to drive away customers.<\/p>\n<p>Overall, higher wages favor e-commerce over brick-and-mortar, because fulfillment centers more readily lend to automation. Those favor large businesses\u2014at the expense of\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/as-minimum-wages-rise-smaller-firms-get-squeezed-1434054188\" class=\"icon none\">smaller and stand-alone consumer-goods manufacturers, retailers, restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues<\/a>\u2014because they can spread development costs for robotic solutions, software and websites over higher volumes and more outlets.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>For workers near the bottom of the income scale, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would boost household incomes, even after they pay a lot more for a Big Mac and a little more for UPS<br \/>\n        UPS,<br \/>\n        <bg-quote field=\"percentchange\" format=\"0,000.00%\" channel=\"\/zigman2\/quotes\/201245396\/composite\" class=\"positive\">+0.20%<\/bg-quote><br \/>\n       delivery on online purchases, but it would lower real incomes among households further up the income scale.<\/p>\n<p>While progressives might hail a $15 minimum as a blow for economic justice, the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/publication\/55410\" class=\"icon none\">Congressional Budget Office<\/a>\u00a0found the losses up the income ladder would be greater than the gains for the working poor and reduce GDP. Some\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/publication\/56975\" class=\"icon none\">1.4 million low wage workers would lose their jobs<\/a>\u00a0and suffer tragic losses of independence, dignity and income altogether.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related story: <\/strong>30% of workers would benefit from a minimum-wage hike to $15 an hour. Now for the downside\u2026<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s simply less harmful to all families to raise\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.irs.gov\/credits-deductions\/individuals\/earned-income-tax-credit-eitc\" class=\"icon none\">the earned-income tax credit<\/a>\u00a0but increasing taxes on middle and upper income Americans for such purposes is problematic with slim majorities of Democrats and moderate Republicans in Congress.<\/p>\n<p>With robots and artificial intelligence becoming ubiquitous no matter what we do, raising the minimum wage over several years to $12 an hour or about 40% of the current average hourly wage\u2014and then adjusting it annually to kept it aligned with that benchmark\u2014would have fewer adverse consequences and be a reasonable compromise that hues to the empathy of voters for the working poor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Peter\u00a0Morici\u00a0is an economist and emeritus business professor at the University of Maryland, and a national columnist.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<h6><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Further_reading\"><\/span>Further reading:<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h6>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>\u2018I will continue h<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ily shopping there forever\u2019: Costco customers react to retailer\u2019s new $16 minimum wage<\/p>\n<p>Low wages are just the start of the problems for millions of U.S. workers during COVID-19\u2014here\u2019s why<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Minimum Wages Have Already Jumped\u2014With Minimal Costs to Business<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"byline article__byline\">\n<p>      <span>By<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author  hasMenu\" data-scrim='{\"type\":\"author\",\"header\":\"Peter Morici\",\"subhead\":\"The Wall Street Journal\",\"list\":[]}' itemscope itemprop=\"author\" itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Person\">\n<h4 itemprop=\"name\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Peter_Morici\"><\/span>Peter Morici<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.marketwatch.com\/news\/story.asp?guid=%7B21005575-02D4-D4B5-4572-D2C8EAAFA88A%7D&#038;siteid=rss&#038;rss=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;# Opinion: Raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour &#8221; Higher wages would encourage more automation and online shopping Democrats want to\u00a0raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour\u00a0to address inequality, but that might not be the best way to fix that problem. Conservative\u2014and many politically moderate\u2014economists don\u2019t like governments fixing prices above what&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-191280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}