October 20, 2015

Big Labor’s Bad Letter

Big Labor wasn’t going to let a fellow traveler disparage the $15 minimum wage without a response. Earlier this month, liberal economist Alan Krueger wrote an op-ed in the New York Times arguing that “a $15-an-hour national minimum wage would put us in uncharted waters, and risk undesirable and…
California September 24, 2015

Labor Loophole Coming Soon to Santa Monica?

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor was widely-ridiculed for its attempt to exempt union members covered by collective bargaining agreements from the $15 minimum wage it had championed for the city. As the Los Angeles Times wrote in a scathing editorial:  It’s stunning that after leading the fight for a $15…
September 4, 2015

Big Labor Tries (and Fails) to Dismiss the Consequences of $15

Advocates for a dramatically-higher minimum wage–in cities including Seattle, San Francisco, and Oakland–have come face to face with an embarrassing downside for their movement: Unflattering press coverage. Past increases in the minimum wage were often in the range of a dollar or less, phased in over a number of years.
New York August 21, 2015

New York’s Fast Food Flop

When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in May his intention to impanel a wage board to “examine the minimum wage in the fast food industry,” fair-minded observers understood the implications: The minimum wage was going up, and it was most likely rising to the $15-an-hour level demanded by the…
Maine August 19, 2015

New Analysis: Maine’s Minimum Wage Misfire

Portland’s City Council recently voted to raise the city’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Now, proponents at the Maine AFL-CIO have launched a referendum to raise the minimum wage statewide by 60 percent to $12 an hour. In support of this effort, a liberal advocacy group called the Maine…
Research June 30, 2015

Early Experiences with Chicago’s July 1st Minimum Wage Increase

Early Experiences with Chicago’s July 1st Minimum Wage Increase In December 2014, the Chicago City Council approved a law raising the city’s minimum wage by nearly 60 percent, to $13 an hour, by 2019. A press release from the office of Mayor Rahm…
Research June 30, 2015

Measuring the Cost of a Higher Minimum Wage for New York’s Fast Food Restaurants

Measuring the Cost of a Higher Minimum Wage for New York’s Fast Food Restaurants New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced in a New York Times op-ed this spring his intention to empanel a state wage…
June 25, 2015

New Analysis: 60% of NY Restaurant Employees Work for Very Small Businesses

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s fast-food wage board concluded its fourth and final public hearing this week, and will now retreat to decide on a new wage mandate for the industry. Numerous speakers at the four hearings emphasized the executive pay and sizable revenue stream at some of the country’s…
June 23, 2015

New York’s New Minimum Wage Employee is a Computer

EPI placed a full-page ad in the New York Post highlighting how a $15 minimum wage for the fast-food industry would lead restaurants to substitute touch-screen ordering systems for employees. The ad coincides with the fourth and final public hearing in front of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s wage board, which has…
state May 21, 2015

A City Known for Its Lost Jobs?

EPI placed a full-page ad in the Kansas City Edition of USA Today warning residents about the potential ramifications of raising the city’s minimum wage by 96% to $15 an hour. The ad implies that a $15 minimum wage would lead Kansas City to be known as much…