Last year Senators Angela Bryant (D-Halifax), Valerie Foushee (D-Chatham) and Terry Van Duyn (D-Buncombe) introduced legislation (SB 174) to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour as a way “to advance economic security in North Carolina.”
Thankfully the bill didn’t pass. We’ve taken pains to point out the many reasons why raising the minimum wage never has nor ever will be a good anti-poverty program.
Simple economics teaches that when you pay someone based on law rather than the value of their skills, you create many problems.
Efforts to boost the minimum wage are further complicated by growing government regulations that — when you add in the cost of training and benefits (health care and paid leave) –, most companies simply find it is too expensive to hire minimum wage workers.
Instead of paying low skilled workers high wages and more benefits, companies are choosing to automate.
Have you visited companies like McDonalds or Panera Bread recently? Observe how those companies are automating and how you can place orders via a machine – not a person.
Thus – once again – one of the major outcomes of raising the minimum wage is to actually eliminate more low wage jobs; the opposite of what the policy was supposed to do.
What’s more the cost structures businesses for training employees and employee benefits actually work to accelerate the automation process.
This is the exactly what is happening in California. Michael Saltsman of the Wall Street Journal tells San Francisco supervisor, Jane Kim to get is trying to get a proposal onto a statewide ballot that would place a tax on companies that automate and eliminate jobs for humans. (Wall Street Journal, subscription may be required).
Saltsman writes:
A rising minimum wage also had a negative effect on job opportunities for older, less-skilled employees in manufacturing. Instead of spurring self-reflection among advocates for new labor mandates, these consequences have inspired them to propose new laws to solve the problems caused by old ones.
Consider the irony: San Francisco voters were promised in 2014 that the minimum-wage initiative backed by Ms. Kim would increase consumer spending by north of $100 million—without affecting employment. Now money from the new robot-tax proposal will be used to offset a reduction in job opportunities, in part caused by the rising minimum wage. . ..
But states like California are accelerating the trend by creating labor-cost mandates that exceed the productivity of employees to which they apply. It’s futile to try to resist the downward slope of the labor demand curve. Instead California’s do-gooder legislators should study up on the law of unintended consequences.
Yet more evidence why North Carolina lawmakers should do all they can to resist calls for a $15 an hour minimum wage.
…recycled news…. the tired automation excuse. Rich, educated conservatives, especially in the south, have always argued for cheap, human labor. It took a war and a movement to get them to budge.
Another impeccable Marketing post by Bob Luebke for his masters while he poses as an Academic.
Thanks for more information on the issue of raising the minimum wage. Anyone who has ever taken a basic course in economics should understand the law of supply and demand. Sadly, many on the left never took economics.
Bob C,some lefties took economics,but it was taught by Communists like the two other so called teachers posting on here.Capitalism made us the greatest and richest country the world has ever seen and people like George and Scott don’t like it because they think they are smarter than people that were more successful than they are and it’s not their fault,it’s capitalism.
There is a name for ‘greatest and richest country’ Larry. It is called Empire. You mock teachers and understand nothing of the past Empires (who were the greatest and richest) that all collapsed.
There is nothing communist about knowing Marx in Economic theory. In fact, if you don’t understand Marx, you are an Economic illiterate. I could give you a list of Conservative Economists who would confirm what I said. It would do you no good, because you Larry, like NC Civitas are only interested in Marketing your views.
Every Post on Minimum Wage Bob Luebke posts are partisan talking points aka Marketing, not Academia. And as George astutely points out, Bob recycles the same talking points over and over.
Never seen anybody type so much and say so little.What do I need to know about Marxism except that it has failed everywhere it’s been tried.Look at China,they went from one of the poorest countries to probably the richest in the world.All this because they changed one thing.They allowed a person to own something and not work for the state.Their economy has gone through the roof ever since.These empires that failed are because they got fat and happy and thought they didn’t need God anymore and became more and more perverted.This country is becoming like Rome and it doesn’t have anything to do with capitalism.
Poor Larry, Marx Economic critique of Capitalism has nothing to do with China or Socialist States for that matter. You truly are illiterate!
For your next trick, I’m sure you would say Medicare is Socialist even though it is a PRIVATELY delivered.
You are the person who praises Adam Smith / Free Markets yet doesn’t read the entirety of what Adam Smith says.
You probably say Gays have caused the Financial Crisis in 2008. LOL.
There is no debate with you. You are ignorant.
Being called ignorant by the likes of you is a compliment.I have paid more in taxes than a loser like you has made in gross pay.You are just a petty little person that can do no better than call names.The one thing you are right about is there is no arguing with someone that thinks Medicare is not a socialist program run by a central government.No use arguing with someone that out of it.
Scott,I said nothing about gays,nor have I ever.Are you upset about coming out of the closet or what is your problem?