Letters (Page 4 )

  • Even minimal wage hike hurts jobs: Letters

    April 2016 ·  Michael Saltsman ·  Orlando Sentinel

    The Sentinel Editorial Board is correct that “there are good reasons to balk at a $15-an-hour minimum wage” (Hike minimum wage, but not to $15: Where we stand, OrlandoSentinel.com, Wednesday). The University of New Hampshire Survey Center conducted a survey of labor economists last year regarding their opinions on this topic and found that nearly three-quarters opposed a broad $15 mandate. But economic evidence also concludes that…
  • Minimum wage hike ineffective fix

    March 2016 ·  Michael Saltsman ·  The Tennessean

    In a March 20 article on Tennessean.com, Danna Gonzalez argues that a $15 minimum wage in Tennessee would “ensure working families can provide for themselves and not rely on government assistance.” Evidence proves this is not the case. Dr. Joseph Sabia and Thanh Tam Nguyen of San Diego State University examined 35 years of government data across a number of different data sets and determined that minimum wage increases have…
  • Letter to the editor: Professor’s minimum-wage views more political than economic

    March 2016 ·  Michael Saltsman ·  Portland Press Herald

    Re: “Researcher says business groups used wrong data to back $10 minimum wage”(March 14): Talk about a delayed reaction. The supposed minimum-wage math error that incensed University of California-Berkeley professor Michael Reich was published over six months ago, in a Press Herald article he was interviewed for (“Minimum wage hike has limits, study says,” Aug. 30, 2015). Reich apparently had no problem with the article at the time, given…
  • If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

    March 2016 ·  Michael Saltsman ·  Montgomery Advertiser

    In Friday’s Opinion section, columnist Coke Ellington argues that tipping has outlasted its usefulness. Don’t tell that to restaurant customers: A recent survey of 3,000 U.S. consumers by Horizon Media found that a whopping 81 percent prefer the status quo to a tip-free alternative. Restaurant employees hold a similar view: My organization used Google’s Consumer Survey tool to poll roughly 2,500 self-reported restaurant employees who earn tips, and nearly 60 percent rejected even…
  • Iowa Poll results overlook consequences of wage hike

    March 2016 ·  Michael Saltsman ·  Des Moines Register

    The recent Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll finds that the majority of Iowans favor an increase in the state’s minimum wage. But you can’t gauge Iowans’ true feelings on the minimum wage without asking about the consequences. [Iowa Poll: Most want increase in state’s minimum wage, Feb. 29) A recent national poll conducted by ORC International (CNN’s pollster) found that nearly six in 10 Americans supported a much higher minimum…
  • Stay in your lane, Cardinal

    February 2016 ·  Michael Saltsman ·  New York Daily News

    Washington: Timothy Cardinal Dolan asks New York to turn the minimum wage into a living wage, framing the debate as a moral issue (“Our moral duty to raise the wage,” Op-Ed, Feb. 24). But there’s nothing moral or correct about a wage mandate that keeps vulnerable young people out of gaining a starter job. The Catholic Church does admirable work in some of the city’s most troubled…