California, News June 4, 2013

California Lawmakers Mull Eliminating 11,500 Jobs

Policymakers in California are pushing a “feel-good” measure that will have disastrous effects on the state’s entry-level job market. Led by Assemblyman Luis Alejo, the California Assembly recently approved a bill that would increase that state’s minimum wage to $9.25 and set future increases on autopilot. The end result of…
News June 3, 2013

Will a Robot Steal Your Job?

It’s no secret that minimum wage hikes force businesses to find a way to offset the mandated increase in labor costs, either by raising prices or lowering costs elsewhere. Since customers are price sensitive, businesses often opt for cost-saving changes that substitute customer self-service for employee full-service. Simply put,…
News May 14, 2013

Labor Secretary Harris Ditches Minimum Wage Talking Points for Common Sense

In his tour across the country to drum up support for President Obama’s minimum wage hike proposal, Acting Labor Secretary Seth Harris has been towing the (false) party line that mandated wage hikes won’t have a negative effect on the availability of entry-level job opportunities. (Click here…
News May 7, 2013

Teen Unemployment Rates Continue to Soar

It used to be that summer months provided an ideal opportunity for teenagers to gain the valuable career experience that comes from entry-level jobs. Yet the effects of the Great Recession, combined with the consequences of a 40 percent minimum wage increase between 2007 and 2009, have left teens…
News April 29, 2013

Ralph Nader Misses the Mark on the Minimum Wage

Recently, Ralph Nader penned an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal arguing for a higher minimum wage. Nader’s faulty economic principles were exposed in a series of letters to the editor published afterward, in addition to having already been refuted in earlier op-eds and editorials in the…
News April 25, 2013

CostCo Doesn’t Speak for All Businesses on the Minimum Wage

In support of a higher minimum wage, advocates typically point to a handful of business owners who voice ideological support for the policy. Take Costco, for instance, whose CEO has voiced strong support for raising the federal minimum wage. Why do these few businesses support raising the minimum wage…
News April 15, 2013

Newsflash: Entry-Level Jobs pay Entry-Level Wages

In conjunction with recent protests for a $15 minimum wage in the fast food industry, activist groups blogged and tweeted that “7 out of the top 10 lowest paying jobs” are in the food and hospitality industry. It’s far less shocking than it sounds. Census Bureau data show…
News April 7, 2013

Former Obama Administration Economist Flunks Econ 101 in Washington Post Op-Ed

In this weekend’s Washington Post, former Obama administration economist and political appointee Betsey Stevenson has an op-ed titled “Five Myths about the Minimum Wage.” Instead of refuting myths about the subject, though, Stevenson packs her piece full of misleading and outright false statements that aren’t fitting of an academic…
News April 2, 2013

Celebrity Chef: Keep Restaurant Labor Costs in Check, or Fail

In an episode of the Food Network’s TV show “Restaurant Impossible,” celebrity chef Robert Irvine visits a failing Mexican restaurant in New Hampshire. Irvine’s task is to advise the owners on how to better manage their restaurant to prevent it from going out of business. Upon inspection of the…
News March 21, 2013

Should the Minimum Wage Track Productivity?

Last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren argued for a minimum wage increase even more extreme than what President Obama or Sen. Tom Harkin are asking for. She referenced a chart showing that the federal minimum wage would be $22 an hour – or roughly $45,000 a year – had it…