Arizona, News December 7, 2017

Flagstaff’s Minimum Wage Hike Threatens Elderly and Disabled Residents

Flagstaff, Ariz. will raise its minimum wage to $11.00 on January 1, 2018. That wage is $1.00 higher than Arizona’s $10.00 state minimum wage and $3.75 higher than the federal minimum wage. Hell-bent on higher wages, city council members have turned a blind eye to how this law affects…
Florida, News October 18, 2017

The Pitfalls Of Fighting For $15 in Florida

Across the nation, lawmakers continue to grapple with the viability and impact of increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Last year, the Florida state legislature took up the measure in Senate Bill 6 and House Bill 109, that would begin raising the $8.10 rate, beginning in January 2017.
August 10, 2017

The Fight For $15 Strikes Out

In the aftermath of the 2016 elections, Bloomberg reported that the SEIU planned a significant 30 percent funding cut. The pricey Fight for $15 campaign–on which the union has spent $90-million+ thus far, with little in the way of direct union benefit to show for it–was expected to be on the chopping block. A…
July 6, 2017

Summer Rolls In and Minimum Wages Rise

As the mercury rises in thermometers, minimum wage levels are rising, too. On July 1st, 17 states and localities increased their wage floors. (See table below.) Ten California cities and localities saw wage increases, with the general wage floor rising as high as $15.20 in Emeryville, California. In San Francisco, where recent research has …
Washington June 26, 2017

The Fight for 15 Fizzles in Seattle

Last week, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray marked the 3rd anniversary of the city’s minimum wage hike, but a new University of Washington study shows there is little to celebrate for many of Seattle’s employers and employees. The report finds Seattle’s incoming $15 minimum wage has reduced hours, earnings and jobs for entry-level employees:…
June 20, 2017

Compensation Hypocrisy on Capitol Hill: $15 Minimum Wage Supporters Hire Unpaid Interns

Last month, the Congressional Progressive Caucus introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2017, which would hike the federal minimum wage by 107 percent to $15 an hour. However, a new Employment Policies Institute (EPI) analysis shows that the majority of the bill’s cosponsors have unpaid interns who earn $0 an hour. Specifically, at least…
May 25, 2017

The Foolish Arguments For a $15 Minimum Wage

In 2014, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated, based on a review of 60 studies, that a $10.10 federal minimum wage would cost 500,000 jobs nationally. Economists from Miami University and Trinity University replicated the CBO’s methodology for a proposed $12 federal minimum wage and estimated 770,000 jobs would be lost nationally as…
May 16, 2017

Sheryl Sandberg’s Minimum Wage Sandbagging

In a Mother’s Day post, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s called for a minimum wage increase. That’s easy for her to say. Her company wouldn’t be affected by the mandate that would disproportionately affect businesses with tiny profit margins. Facebook’s 2016 profit was more than $10 billion.  It also…
April 19, 2017

Harvard Study Finds Minimum Wage Increase Causes Restaurant Decrease

At our sister site, Faces of $15, we’ve been documenting the “death march” of Bay Area restaurant closures due to dramatic minimum wage increases. Now a new Harvard Business School study provides additional analytical support to our observational findings. The study concludes that every…
News April 4, 2017

The Real Faces of 15

A new commercial from the Employment Policies Institute shows the hardships caused by dramatic minimum wage increases across the country. While “Fight for 15” protests occur today, there are numerous stories of the harm of a $15 minimum wage increase. https://www.minimumwage.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Real-Faces-of-the-Fight-for-15.mp4 The stories of five business owners are featured…