For anyone interested in some other studies looking at this:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5197571

First, the policy led to significantly lower turnover in the fast-food sector. Second, wages increased not only for fast-food workers earning below $20, but also for higher-paid workers. Third, although hiring declined following the minimum wage increase, it was outpaced by the decline in turnover, causing total fast-food employment to rise. Fourth, there were no wage or employment spillovers on firms outside the fast-food sector.

The fact that the increase in minimum wage reduced total employment is hardly worth reporting. Higher price (of labor) equals lower quantity demanded. Not a shock, and not really an argument against the policy… because proponents of higher minimum wage aren’t arguing the desired outcome is maximizing employment. Do the benefits of the higher wage offset the loss?

I’ll happily employ the scholars at WPC $0.01/hour 24/7/365 if they’re only interested in maximizing number of hours worked… /s

It’s bananas to me that “people don’t have to work overtime at McDonald’s anymore” is evidence of policy failure. Spokane is not sending it’s best:

The study finds that while the higher wage has drawn more job applicants to fast-food restaurants, businesses have responded by slashing shifts, reducing available hours, and limiting hiring. One McDonald’s owner reported an 11.5% drop in hours worked, equivalent to losing about 62 full-time positions. Restaurants raised menu prices by 8-12%, accelerated automation with self-order kiosks, and cut overtime, leaving many workers with fewer opportunities and even jeopardizing benefit eligibility. National Bureau of Economic Research papers echo this, showing roughly a 3% employment drop and up to 18,000 jobs lost statewide.

What a spectacular set of false-framings & DarkTriad-business-doesn’t-exist-for-workers-so-they’ll-just-automate ( no fucking kidding, Duh ) drivel.

Didn’t even suggest controlling for confounding-factors re the unemployment rate…

& the line about

minwage jobs aren’t meant to be full time

Seriously?

MANY lives can’t get anything else, & HAVE to live on minwage…

Gaslighting.

Gaslighting masquerading as scientific-level facts.

Minwage NEEDS to track cost-of-living, different for different demographic-regions, rural vs city, small-city vs big-city, etc.

The arbitrary, ad-hoc, hotchpotch idiocy of legislations is part of the problem.

Minwage should be set automatically to meet cost-of-actual-living, at all scales, from nationally down to the county/suburb.

& people who pretend that businesses are powerless to raise prices when costs climb … also are gaslighting.

_ /\ _

Let me rebut using the evidence the author provided in the article; Nuh-uh.

Mark Harmsworth is the director of the Small Business Center at the Washington Policy Institute.

The Washington Policy Center (WPC) is a think tank based in the state of Washington.[4][5] The organization’s stated mission is “to advocate for government transparency and accountability, as well as to improve lives by promoting sound public policy based on free-market solutions.”[