from the Washington Post
"When Seattle officials voted three years ago to incrementally boost the city's minimum wage up to $15 an hour, they'd hoped to improve the lives of low-income workers. Yet according to a major new study that could force economists to reassess past research on the issue, the hike has had the opposite effect.
The city is gradually increasing the hourly minimum to $15 over several years. Already, though, some employers have not been able to afford the increased minimums. They've cut their payrolls, putting off new hiring, reducing hours or letting their workers go, the study found.
The costs to low-wage workers in Seattle outweighed the benefits by a ratio of three to one, according to the study, conducted by a group of economists at the University of Washington who were commissioned by the city. The study, published as a working paper Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research, has not yet been peer reviewed.
On the whole, the study estimates, the average low-wage worker in the city lost $125 a month because of the hike in the minimum."
Didn't these politicians ever take a basic economics course? Economics 101 would have told the Seattle politicians that this would happen. Dummies. Obviously, they have no understanding of real world business. Or basic real world economics. Not surprising, as Seattle is known as one of the most liberal cities in America.
The Minimum Wage was NEVER intended to be a living wage for a family. It was intended as a low STARTING wage, for young people to gain some work experience and put a few dollars in their pocket. And then move on to better pay. Those stuck in minimum wage jobs forever tend to have less (or little) education. Who's fault is that? Welcome to the new America where, supported by liberalism, you need not take responsibility for ANY of your own problems or failures.
Seattle, WA. Home of the country's first mandated $15 an hour Minimum Wage. The Minimum Wage increase didn't work (no pun intended). Instead, it caused harm. Once again, by their own arrogance, stupidity and blindness, liberal politicians hurt the very people they wanted to help.
UPDATE: and on July 1, 2017, Los Angeles raised the Minimum Wage to $12, on the way to $15. I guess the left-wing liberal Los Angeles City Council didn't learn anything either.
