A $15 Minimum Wage In Los Angeles Could Create 64,700 Jobs

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http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/16/3171441/15-minimum-wage-jobs/



Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour in Los Angeles could stimulate the city’s economy enough to create 64,700 jobs, according to a study from the Economic Roundtable released by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
The study estimates that 46 percent of the city’s workers, or more than 810,000, make less than that wage currently, and the pay raise would increase wages by $7.6 billion a year. Because low-wage workers are more likely to spend any pay increases, the raise would pump that money almost immediately into the economy.

The report comes as the group that released the study is spearheading a push to raise the minimum wage for the city’s hotel workers even higher, to $15.37 an hour. Nancy L. Cohen writes in The New Republic that two City Council members are set to introduce an ordinance later this month with the raise as well as a guarantee of five paid sick days a year for those workers. If passed, it would “immediately put roughly $73 million into the pockets of working people,” she writes. It has a decent chance of becoming law as the City Council has a Democratic super majority and the hospitality industry is doing well. Supporters would eventually like to see the wage apply to all city workers.

California’s statewide wage is currently $8 an hour, but Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a hike in September that will bring it up to $10 by 2016. That’s not enough for some in the state, however. A wealthy Republican has begun a campaign to raise the wage to $12 an hour by that year and is pushing to get the measure in front of voters on the November ballot.

The $15 an hour figure has gained traction in recent months. It started with striking fast food workers, who have staged a growing wave of protests to demand that wage level and the right to form a union. Then voters in a small town in Washington state approved a $15 minimum wage in November, although it is currently being fought over in court. In nearby Seattle, the mayor is now pushing for the same wage for his city’s workers. Chicago is also taking steps toward a $15 wage, as voters in a small number of precincts will soon weigh in on whether they approve of such a hike.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. I like demand-side economics. Put money into the hands of the spenders.

WE are the job creators. What businesses don't understand is that raising wages for everyone will allow them to sell more and expand their businesses. They get back the money they spend on increased wages.

[theHandpuppet]

2. Exactly

But how did so many Americans get brainwashed into thinking otherwise?

[Thav]

8. A lie repeated often enough

becomes truth in the minds of people.

[jeff47]

10. Because our side stopped talking about economic models.

In discussions about supply-side economics, there's a very lengthy model requiring a whole lot of steps and secondary effects to boost the overall economy.

When the same people talk about "demand-side" economics, the analysis stops at "businesses will have to pay workers more". As if the money vanishes as soon as it touches a worker.

Why? Our side hasn't been talking about economic models. So a larger model that adds simple things like "workers with higher pay spend more" isn't discussed. Instead, we have been discussing the issue as a moral issue - "it's wrong to pay so little!"

It is indeed wrong, but if we want to counter supply-side we're going to have to talk about economic models, to show our model works better.

[theHandpuppet]

11. All good points

But then, their side owns the airwaves and they determine what information is spoon-fed to the American people.

[jeff47]

12. Our politicians still get interviewed. (nt)

[theHandpuppet]

13. That's true...

... but when it comes to talking about economics too may politicians dumb down the dialogue, as if the majority of Americans are too dumb to understand how the system works.

[jeff47]

14. "Workers with more money buy more stuff" isn't too hard to explain. (nt)

[theHandpuppet]

18. Yep. You got me there.

Seems simple enough, doesn't it?

[BrotherIvan]

16. You are correct

Treating fair wages as some sort of morality argument does nothing to sway opinion. It smacks of charity and gets twisted into an argument that workers may somehow be paid more than they deserve.

But a well-paid workforce is how our country is set up to function. We are a consumer economy. When workers are paid well, they buy all the stuff that companies sell. I have never understood this new idea that every company thinks they can pay third world wages and still make profits. They must be completely myopic. Who will buy the ipads and iphones, who will buy any consumer goods at all, when all but a tiny few can afford them? It truly looks just like a parasite killing a host.

The trouble is, Los Angeles has quite a bit of manufacturing. They are constantly shedding jobs for low wage states such as Michigan an North Carolina. If LA ups their wages and no one else in the surrounding area does, the manufacturing will leave for places like San Bernadino or San Diego counties. This needs to be a federal thing.

[jeff47]

17. It's one of those things were what's best for one company is bad for the overall economy.

It's beneficial for Acme Widgets to pay its workers as little as possible. Its workers are not its customers.

However, it's workers are someone else's customers. So paying as little as possible hurts the economy overall, including Acme Widgets. But if only Acme pays more, it is hurt both by poor customers and high wages.

As you say, this needs to be a federal thing.

[BrotherIvan]

19. That's why I shake my head at the TPP

I guess companies like Wal Mart, who is showing terrible sales because they cater to those customers hardest hit in this environment, have all decided there will be no manufacturing whatsoever in the US. We will all work at McDonalds or low-paying service jobs. But who will buy the products?

I am totally confounded that in a time when tariffs and a real push to bring manufacturing and high-paying skilled labor jobs back to this country, our Democratic White House is pushing a fucking trade deal. Barack Obama and his team I do believe had absolutely no vision for this economy. They had very little vision beyond winning presidential campaigns. I've never seen the administration be anything but reactive to crises. I have never actually heard what the vision for the economy, or for that matter, the actual economic policy is.

I'm sure the BOG will be along presently to scold me for saying such. But I would love for someone to show how this statement is untrue.

[unblock]

5. aww but then the rich people have to actually EARN the money back instead of mooching it!

[shenmue]

7. Yes!

That would be so good.

[Thav]

9. Demand side is the only side that works.

No matter how many Widgets I supply, if demand is 0, I will sell 0.

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. $7.6 Billion ...

and that is just for Los Angeles!

If I'm a LA Business person, especially in consumer goods (which will see the money first), I want to get a part of that money!

[TBF]

4. Yes! And getting some of the money into the hands

of low income folks means it will be spent - not socked away in tax-free shelters overseas. That means everything for small businesses.

[pampango]

6. Conservative response (inevitable and without evidence): That will hurt poor workers.

As sure to come as the sun rising in the east tomorrow.

[Glassunion]

15. I'm having a hard time believing this article.

"California’s statewide wage is currently $8 an hour, but Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a hike in September that will bring it up to $10 by 2016. That’s not enough for some in the state, however. A wealthy Republican has begun a campaign to raise the wage to $12 an hour by that year and is pushing to get the measure in front of voters on the November ballot."

That paragraph does not make any sense to me. I'm reading the words, but they seem to be wrong for some reason.

[CFLDem]

20. People survive in LA making less than $15?

Sweet Jesus