September 24, 2020

The Corporate Fight for $15: Good for America’s Employees?

As the Fight for $15 heats up across the country, calls for local, state, and federal governments to raise minimum wages have prompted many officials to take action. Some states and cities have already enacted phased plans to achieve a $15 minimum wage over the next few years,…
Florida September 16, 2020

Florida Projected to Lose 158,000 Jobs Due to Proposed Amendment 2

Last week, economists Dr. William Even, Miami University, and Dr. David Macpherson, Trinity University, released “Estimating the Impact of a $15.00 Minimum Wage in Florida.” The study analyzes the impact of passing Amendment 2, a ballot measure which would amend the state’s constitution to raise the minimum wage to…
September 10, 2020

Will a High Minimum Wage Hinder Cities’ COVID Recovery?

Food service and restaurant-related businesses face a particularly long road to recovery after losses due to the pandemic. However, such businesses faced steep barriers to growth in pre-COVID times, particularly in markets with an unsustainably high minimum wage. Numerous studies find that rising minimum wage, particularly…
July 15, 2020

Teens Face Skyrocketing Unemployment Rates Amid Summer Minimum Wage Hikes

Teenagers are going to be hard-pressed to find a job this summer. According to a new analysis of Census Bureau statistics, the youth unemployment rate—including Americans between the ages of 16 and 19—surpassed 30 percent in 26 states as of May. Moreover, the jobless rate rose above 40 percent in…
March 20, 2020

New Study: Higher Tipped Wage = Lower Tip Percentage

The Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC) continues to spend a large portion of its annual budget trying to eliminate the tipped wage. This is despite the fact that restaurant workers support the current system of tipping by an overwhelming majority. A 2016 survey of several hundred tipped workers by industry…
Connecticut March 16, 2020

Connecticut Provides Another Lesson for Wage Activists

The state of Connecticut has become yet another cautionary tale for the #Fightfor$15 movement. Last week, the Connecticut Department of Labor released the state’s revised job numbers from 2019, and the results were not reassuring. For the first time since 2010–when the nation was still recovering from the Great…
New York February 27, 2020

Wage Hikes Take a Bite out of Big Apple Restaurants

Recently-released data from the New York State Department of Labor show that New York City suffered its second straight year of declining employment in the full-service restaurant industry. Nearly 5,000 full-service restaurant jobs have been lost in the city since 2017. The city hasn’t experienced consecutive years…
February 19, 2020

Hitting ROC Bottom

2020 is off to a rough start for the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC). Just six weeks after its much-anticipated grand re-opening, ROC operated restaurant COLORS closed its doors–and this time, it looks like it will be for good. The union-affiliated advocacy group ROC claims to push for pro-worker restaurant…
February 12, 2020

Faces of $15 Highlights CT Childcare Center

Last summer, Governor Lamont added Connecticut to the growing list of states that have approved a $15 minimum wage. It didn’t take long for Connecticut’s businesses to feel the negative consequences of this legislation. Just months after the bill was signed, ShopRite, one of the largest grocers in…
California, Washington January 2, 2020

New Year, New (Harmful) Wage Mandates for Business Owners

For many of us, the New Year is a chance to reflect on the past year and resolve to improve in the future. Unfortunately, many business owners may have trouble starting 2020 off on the right foot, thanks to a slew of mandatory wage hikes that took place on January…