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Biden Ignores Evidence on Impact of $15 Minimum Wage
November 2020 · Michael Saltsman · Morning Consult
Asked at the most recent presidential debate about the wisdom of a $15 federal minimum wage, Joe Biden dismissed potential consequences: “There’s no evidence that when you raise the minimum wage, businesses go out of business.” As the candidate might say, that’s malarkey. The minimum wage is one of the most-studied topics in economics, with reams of research papers dating back to the creation of a federal standard in… -
Opinion: $15 minimum wage would ruin economic recovery
October 2020 · Michael Saltsman and Rebekah Paxton · The Detroit News
The coronavirus pandemic left millions jobless. Instead of getting Americans back to work, Democrats propose reviving the economy by more than doubling the minimum wage. A new analysis shows why this strategy will backfire. This unprecedented increase to the minimum wage is a key component of the Raise the Wage Act, a bill that passed in the House of Representatives just last year. The components of the legislation, which were… -
Bloomberg Joins the Unions
February 2020 · Michael Saltsman · Wall Street Journal
His labor-policy plan could have come from Sanders or Warren. Mike Bloomberg pitches himself as a moderate, business-minded alternative to other Democrats running for president. But his plan to remake the nation’s labor laws, released earlier this month, wouldn’t be out of place in the campaign literature of Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. Start with Mr. Bloomberg’s endorsement of a $15 minimum wage, which has already hurt the restaurant… -
Half-baked worker empowerment: What’s behind the closure of ROC United’s new restaurant
January 2020 · Michael Saltsman · New York Daily News
Call it the restaurant opening that wasn’t. Five weeks after its Dec. 10, 2019, premiere — a reopening in the wake of a closure in 2017 — the New York City restaurant COLORS closed its doors. Management gave the head chef and restaurant employees just three days warning, and delivered the bad news via text message. Restaurant deaths are hardly unique, but COLORS’ closure is not like the others. A… -
Opinion: Gov. Newsom’s Future of Work Commission Risks Taking State Backward
January 2020 · Michael Saltsman · Times of San Diego
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Future of Work Commission visits San Diego this week, where its members will discuss potential changes in employment law to match the 21st century labor market. The commission’s goals are laudable; unfortunately, its appointed members have ideas that will take the state’s workforce backwards, not forwards.Start with commission co-chair Mary Kay Henry, who serves as president of the Service Employees International Union. SEIU has spent north of $100… -
California businesses at the breaking point due to minimum wage hikes
December 2019 · Michael Saltsman · Orange County Register
California’s minimum wage rises to $13 an hour on Jan. 1, and a number of its localities now have wage rates above $15 an hour. Labor groups promised that $15 would be an economic boon for the state, while then-Gov. Jerry Brown worried that “economically, the minimum wage may not make sense.” The state’s experience with rapidly rising wage rates show the former governor was right to…