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Michigan Teens Will Face Job Shortages
May 2013 · Michael Saltsman · Detroit News
Michigan parents, prepare yourselves: With a 22.9 percent teen unemployment rate heading into the summer of 2013, your jobless kids might be making frequent withdrawals from the Bank of Mom & Dad for their vacation spending cash. There are a number of factors at work: More competition from older jobseekers, for instance, has put young and inexperienced applicants at a competitive disadvantage. But also at fault are… -
Minimum Wage Legislation, And The Small Business ‘Survey’ Scam
May 2013 · Michael Saltsman · Forbes
A group calling itself the Small Business Majority (SBM) recently released asurvey to support its argument that two-thirds of small businesses support a hike in the minimum wage. It’s a counterintuitive result: After all, if small businesses don’t mind a minimum wage hike, then pursuing the policy should be a no-brainer for Congress. But a closer look at SBM reveals that it’s just another misleadingly-named activist group more… -
To Help the Poor, Move Beyond ‘Minimum’ Gestures
April 2013 · Michael Saltsman · Huffington Post
Actor and director Ben Affleck made news this week with the announcement that he’ll spend five days living on just $1.50 — the U.S.-dollar daily equivalent of extreme poverty, according to the Global Poverty Project. Affleck’s heart is in the right place, but his actions won’t provide a measurable benefit for people who actually live in poverty. On that score, Affleck’s actions are not unlike a series of recently-introduced… -
The ‘Fight for $15’ is a job killer
April 2013 · Michael Saltsman · Chicago Tribune
When the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago initiated last week’s strikes at the city’s fast-food and retail outlets, the protesters rallied around the cry “Fight for $15” — that is, a minimum wage that’s almost double Illinois’ current $8.25. WOCC’s rhetoric is aimed at employers and “rich executives,” but what it doesn’t realize is that its fight isn’t with management — it’s with price-conscious consumers. A $15… -
Minimum wage: Credible Studies Show Raising it Costs Jobs
April 2013 · Michael Saltsman · San Jose Mercury News
This week, a bill from California Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Salinas) to raise the state minimum wage to $9.25 will receive a hearing in the legislature’s Labor and Employment committee. His proposal, like a federal $10.10 minimum wage bill promoted on these pages recently by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), would index the minimum wage to rise with inflation. It’s a policy that’s more than just unnecessary. It would… -
The Record Is Clear: Minimum Wage Hikes Destroy Jobs
April 2013 · Michael Saltsman · Forbes
There’s at least one minimum wage fact that both Republicans and Democrats agree on: Opposing an increase, as Republicans typically do, is a political loser. So confident are Democrats in the effectiveness of this “wedge” issue that they’ve made it a key part of their 2014 strategy to retake control of the House of Representatives. But as is often the case in politics, “effective” is not synonymous…