As many states hike their minimum wages in response to the far-left “Fight for 15” campaign, the evidence is rolling in that this policy hurts the very workers it’s supposed to help.
New York City is one of the most high profile areas on the road to $15, and a high cost of living area. One might think it could absorb a radical wage mandate, but even in New York, that is not proving to be the case.
These massive increases to wages are backfiring on all levels across the city, “4,000 workers lost jobs at full-service restaurants, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show. By the end of last year, there were fewer restaurant workers in the city than in November 2016. Even though overall employment climbed by more than 163,000.”
According to a survey conducted by the New York City Hospitality Alliance, when asking full service restaurants, “74.50% respondents report that they will reduce employee hours; and 47.10% will eliminate jobs in 2019 as a result of mandated wage increases that took effect on December 31, 2018.”
In addition, the survey also found that “76.50% of respondents report reducing employee hours, and 36.30% eliminated jobs in 2018 in response to mandated wage.”
The $15 wage is an attack on workers most of all. But it is also hurting restaurants – especially moderately priced restaurants in the city. Rosa Mexicana operates four restaurants in Manhattan and estimates the $15 mandated wage will increase their labor costs by $600,000 this year.
Liberal leaders in states across the nation seem to be rushing to get wage hikes, as if they want to outpace the disastrous reality that these policies will bring. That way they can get headlines and pretend they did something to help workers, before it is obvious that they aren’t helping at all.
Well, time is up, and any politicians pushing a radical wage hike are doing so knowing the consequences.