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Why teen summer jobs are far and few between
May 2019 · Samantha Summers · The OC Register
A summer job has become a rite of passage for American teenagers. From scooping ice cream to lifeguarding at the community pool, summer jobs have allowed teens to earn some extra cash before heading back to school in the fall. But over the past few decades, the rate of teenagers looking for summer jobs has fallen significantly. One contributing factor to the decline: Rising state and local… -
Most economists oppose the $15-an-hour minimum wage – Here’s the stunning reason why
March 2019 · Lloyd Corder · Fox News
According to an old saying, if you ask five economists for advice you’ll get five different answers. But when it comes to a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage, economists are in near-universal agreement: it’s a bad idea. That’s the conclusion of a new survey conducted by CorCom Inc., the company I head. The survey was released this week by the Employment Policies Institute. The survey coincides with the push… -
Burger-Flipper Arbitrators
March 2019 · Michael Saltsman and Michael Lotito · Wall Street Journal
Now that the Fight for $15 movement has achieved a higher minimum wage in New York City, its backers at the Service Employees International Union want to make fast-food workers hard to fire. City Councilman Brad Lander introduced legislation in February that would effectively abolish at-will employment in chain restaurants—those with 30 or more locations nationwide, whether corporate-owned or franchised. The bill is unprecedented in its scope;… -
Dems should follow Bill Clinton’s lead on minimum wage hike
January 2019 · Michael Saltsman & Samantha Summers · The Hill
One of the Democrats’ top priorities in the new Congress is a $15 minimum wage — a 107-percent increase over the current standard. Before embracing a federal wage mandate for which there’s no historical precedent, party leaders should take a lesson from former President Bill Clinton. Clinton was a champion of a higher minimum wage, and in 1996 he signed into law a 21-percent federal wage hike. (In today’s… -
As minimum wage kept growing, restaurants didn’t
January 2019 · Michael Saltsman · Crain's New York Business
Has New York’s minimum wage experiment been a success or failure? For Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the verdict is all positive. He described the state’s minimum wage—which in New York City rose to $15 an hour Dec. 31—as a “national example in the fight for economic justice.” But employment figures paint a less-rosy picture. New York has more than a dozen different minimum wage rates depending on a… -
Is Amazon’s holiday hiring foreshadowing the future?
November 2018 · Samantha Summers · Reno Gazette Journal
This holiday season, Santa’s little helpers might come with a battery. While retailers across the country are beefing up seasonal hires to prepare for the holiday shopping apocalypse, Amazon is taking a different tack: hiring 20,000 fewer seasonal hires from previous years and increasing workplace automation. It may be a frightening preview of holidays to come: As mandated minimum wages across the country continue to rise, retailers are forced…