Calling out lies on the minimum wage

Seattle workers won a boost in the minimum wage three years ago, from $9.47 to $15 an hour for most workers at companies with 500 or more employees. This came as part of the movement that has led to minimum wage increases in dozens of cities across the country. Many are now earning the $15 per hour, with more to come, due to the national struggle.

Since July, however, a new study by University of Washington (UW) researchers has brought the opponents of a $15 minimum wage out of the woodwork. The study actually claims that low-wage workers were hurt by the higher wage! The study says the minimum wage increase caused bosses to reduce the hours of minimum wage workers by 9 percent — and that the new minimum wage only raised their wages by 3 percent. But how could this be?

This UW study has been grabbing headlines across the country.

Another study, however, this one by the University of California Labor Center, came out around the same time as the UW study. It points out that the UW study excludes workers at businesses that have more than one location. In other words, only stand-alone small companies show up in its results.

Workers at Starbucks, McDonalds and the other big chains aren’t included! The UC Labor Center says the UW report leaves “48 percent of Seattle’s low-paid workforce out of the study.” Workers at small companies are also covered by the new minimum wage law, but their raise to $15 an hour is more gradual.

There’s another problem with the UW “study.” Its lead researcher, Jacob Vigdor, is an opponent of the minimum wage who wrote in a post in 2014: “The minimum wage is a lousy anti-poverty program.”

Seattle’s unemployment rate is now 2.6 percent. Big business opponents of minimum wage increases had long warned it would result in restaurant closings, layoffs and other significant problems. None of these outcomes have come to pass, as the bosses scramble to come up with ­“alternative facts. “

Jim McMahan

Share
Published by
Jim McMahan

Recent Posts

PDF of November 21 print issue

Download the PDF Resistance grows as West Asia war widens Resistance grows as West Asia…

November 21, 2024

Kenneth Foster: A victim of racist, ironic injustice

New Boston, Texas Kenneth Foster was unjustly sentenced to life in prison without the possibility…

November 20, 2024

New York City: ’Gaza, Gaza you will rise!’

One year after Israel's raid of Al-Shaifa Hospital, protesters held a vigil to honor Gaza…

November 20, 2024

UAW members to top leaders: Divest from genocide!

In the morning of Nov. 12, a new group, Engineers Against Apartheid, held banners and…

November 20, 2024

U.S. schemes to control Haiti are failing

Misery and hunger are afflicting millions of Haitians. According to the Integrated Food Security Phase…

November 20, 2024

Resistance grows as West Asia war widens

For over a year, the capitalist media has falsely portrayed Israel’s genocidal war against the…

November 20, 2024