OPINION:
They say the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.
That seems to be the definition of the left’s argument with the minimum wage. The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco wrote in its economic notes last year: “The overall body of recent evidence suggests that the most credible conclusion is a higher minimum wage results in some job loss for the least-skilled workers — with possibly larger adverse effects than earlier research suggested.”
The progressive fight for $15 mandatory minimum wage continues. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has embraced the policy and is advocating for a national wage hike.
So let’s look at the real-world results of Seattle.
The City of Seattle passed its $15 minimum-wage ordinance in June 2014, and according to a study completed by the University of Washington on the bill’s economic effects, lower-skilled jobs seem to be vanishing — in just one year.
“Although the ordinance appears to have boosted wages for the city’s lowest-paid workers, the benefits of the increase may have been partly offset by fewer hours worked per person and slightly less overall employment,” the researchers found.
You don’t say. The city hasn’t even reached $15 yet — it’s minimum wage was boosted to $11 last year, is set to hike to $13 in January and will eventually reach $15 by 2021 for all businesses.
Yes, Seattle’s lowest-paid workers saw a boost in their paychecks, but only 25 percent of those observed income gains — a few dollars a week — that can be attributed to the higher wage, the study found. It was with much thanks to a strong economy, the authors said, where some wage increases would’ve happened regardless of the ordinance.
Still, even with this economic boom, Seattle’s lowest-wage earners still showed signs of “lagging behind” regional trends, the report said.
The employment rate was down about 1 percentage point for workers, who earned less than $11 before the ordinance, and their average hours declined, the study showed. In addition, the proportion of them who switched jobs in the city to elsewhere, increased by 2 to 3 percent, researchers found.
So there you have it. Progressive policies working out exactly the way economists and conservatives have prescribed.
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