
Why It's Safe to Raise the Minimum Wage - Argothair
https://medium.com/@jasongreenlowe/why-its-safe-to-raise-the-minimum-wage-826381a9f02c#.ydhw6w3g6
======
vaadu
The data is not conclusive.
[https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-08-11/early-
ret...](https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-08-11/early-returns-from-
seattle-s-minimum-wage-experiment)

"The best guess is that workers who remained employed saw a quarterly increase
in earnings of about $184. If you live in a low-income household, $736 a year
is a substantial sum. On the other hand, if you live in a low-income
household, “no wages at all” is catastrophic.

Of course, these effects are likely to increase as the higher wages phase in.
The earnings increases will grow, but so will the number of people who see
their hours reduced or who can’t find work at all, or who have to take on a
new and less attractive commute because they can no longer find a job in
Seattle. We will have to wait to see whether the costs and benefits rise
together, or one eclipses the other."

~~~
Argothair
The data's not conclusive, but it's also not neutral -- the data shows that,
on average, workers gained about $680 per year, even after factoring in the
extra risk of unemployment. That's a much, much better result than Bloomberg
and the WSJ and mainstream economists were predicting. If you ask a neoliberal
economist what the effects of a minimum wage hike will be, they'll tell you
that, on average, the hike will destroy wealth. So far, on average, this hike
has been creating wealth.

Does it make sense to wait for more than 18 months of data before rolling out
a nationwide wage hike? Sure. But the results so far are good, and they
support extending the wage hike to a dozen more cities so that we can collect
the best data possible.

