They are already seeing declines....
Or not. CA only raised MW by $1 in January, and there's no solid data -- just a lot of conservatives and business lobbying agencies squawking.
The employer doesn't see any cut in labor costs. if he is paying 7.25 and next year inflation goes up 3% and he is still paying 7.25 then he won't see a difference. His employee's will.
Uh, hello? Do you not understand how inflation works?
Let's say I put aside $100 in cash on January 1, 2011. On January 1, 2012, that $100 bill hasn't changed -- but due to inflation, its purchasing power has dropped, and on average I can only buy the equivalent of what $97 bought a year earlier.
In nominal dollars, I still have $100.
In
real dollars, I now have $97.
The same principle applies when minimum wages don't change. Due to inflation, it costs the employer
less in purchasing power to pay an employee $7.25 on 1/1/2012 than it did on 1/1/2011. So when minimum wages are not indexed to inflation, the
nominal amount does not change, but the
real amount does.
Thus: A failure to increase minimum wages at pace with inflation is, in fact, a cost savings for employers.
Your not talking natural growth inflation. you are talking about artificially induction of floor raises which affect everyone and actually hurts the business when they see a 100% increase in their payroll.
Try again, my friend. Minimum wages have not kept up with inflation, yet again providing employers huge breaks over the years. Most of the MW laws are slowly phasing in increases to get low wages back on track. And keep in mind that the few areas going up to $15 already have much higher costs of living than most of the nation.
Nor have MWs kept up with productivity:
Ol they can tolerate cost increases but not 100% jump in payroll for jobs that don't qualify for that pay.
That is why they are looking into automation to replace those workers. Government has priced these people out of a job.
Please.
Business lobbyists and conservative trot out these objections for
any increase in minimum wages; we've been hearing this kind of kvetching and moaning for years, even as wages fail to keep up with inflation.
Plus, businesses have spent
decades automating everything they can, from the lowest-paying to highest-paying jobs. That process has nothing to do with minimum wages, except in the fevered rhetoric of lobbyists.
That claim also reminds me of an old lawyer's joke. One attorney tells another that his client can't afford to pay for something, yet somehow he can afford to pay his lawyer $350/hour. Pleading poverty, when you're threatening to spend huge sums to automate away a few MW jobs, does not pass the smell test.
That is because previous minimum wage increases have been 1 dollar here or 50 cents there. nominal but has cost people jobs and has eliminated other positions.
now these states are demanding 15 an hour for people that don't have the qualifications for it.
They are
slowly increasing to $15/hour, in areas that have high costs of living.
Another issue is that those $7.25/hour jobs? They're subsidized by the taxpayer. Those workers qualify for food stamps and other benefits; Walmart alone is costing the taxpayer over $6 billion a year in safety net spending.
Thus, employers are not truly paying what the market will bear, because their low wages are subsidized by the government.
you will see 4 trends.
1. jobs that would be created aren't.
No indication of that in the research
2. jobs will be eliminated with more people asked to do more things.
There doesn't seem to be any slack in the labor market for that to be possible.
3. automation will be brought in and the workers gone completely.
See above
4. Prices will increase to offset costs. Businesses are not going to eat it.
Yes, prices will go up; as will the ability of workers to pay more, since they have a little more income.
Given that inflation is dangerously low, and at risk of sliding into deflation? A little inflation is a good idea.
And again, in those areas where minimum wages are indexed to inflation, it's not going to cause a major issue.
What you and other people don't seem to get is that the people that are already making 15 an hour will want a wage increase.
Utterly incorrect.
There is a broad understanding that increasing minimum wages results in small increases for low-wage employees.