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The Flimsy Facts Behind NYC’s ‘Fair Workweek’ Bills
May 2017 · Michael Saltsman · Forbes
Call it an epidemic of irregular proportions. New York City’s “retail and restaurant workers suffer from abusive scheduling,” argued Councilmember Brad Lander, pointing to an oft-cited survey on employee scheduling released in December by the Community Service Society of New York (CSS). In response to this supposed crisis, a legislative package under consideration by the City Council would, among other things, penalize fast food employers who adjust employees’ schedules with less than… -
Tax credit better way to help poor
May 2017 · Michael Saltsman · Baton Rouge Advocate
Gov. John Bel Edwards has proposed raising Louisiana’s minimum wage by 17 percent to $8.50 —giving the state a higher wage floor than two of its three neighbors. State legislators need not put the state at a competitive disadvantage to raise wages. Thanks to a federal policy called the Earned Income Tax Credit, the real minimum wage for many Louisiana families is already over $10 an hour.… -
The Minimum Wage Eats Restaurants
May 2017 · Michael Saltsman · The Wall Street Journal
San Francisco’s ever-rising minimum wage—set to hit $15 next year—has restaurant owners asking for the check. “At Least 60 Bay Area Restaurants Have Closed Since September,” read a January headline at the website SFist, which partly blamed “the especially high cost of doing business in SF, with a mandated, rising minimum wage that does not exempt tipped employees.” Another publication, Eater, described the rash of recent closures… -
‘May Day’ marchers out of step with minimum wage experts
May 2017 · Jordan Bruneau and Michael Saltsman · The Hill
This week, coordinated May Day protests took place in major cities across the country. Among the marchers’ many demands: a $15 national minimum wage. The demonstrations come on the heels of last week’s $15 federal minimum wage legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders and co-sponsored by 22 progressive Senators. But expert opinion is out of step with these literal and legislative marches. A 2015 survey of U.S.-based… -
Michael Saltsman: Rhode Island’s minimum wage mistake
May 2017 · Michael Saltsman · Providence Journal
How many minimum wage hikes is too many? The Rhode Island legislature seems determined to find out. The state’s minimum wage has been increased in four of the last five years, rising by 30 percent over this time period — roughly 10 times more than the rate of inflation in the Northeast. Two recently-introduced pieces of legislation would raise the wage floor further, to as high as… -
Young adults: California’s forgotten class
April 2017 · Jordan Bruneau and Michael Saltsman · Orange County Register
California may have the world’s sixth-largest economy, but that’s cold comfort for young adults confronting a dismal summer job market. Once known for its beautiful beaches, moderate climate and stunning vistas, California today is better known for being inhospitable to the middle class — a net importer of better educated, higher-earning employees, and a net exporter of almost everyone else. For those who remain — young adults…