San Francisco set to introduce nation's highest minimum wage

San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | April 30, 2015

[Oldeconomybuyer]

San Francisco is getting ready to raise its minimum wage to $12.25 an hour, a rate that will have the city joining Oakland as the locales with the nation's highest legally mandated pay for non-salaried workers.

San Francisco's new minimum is set to go into effect on Friday. It was approved by voters as part of an initiative that will increase the minimum wage to $15 in 2018.

The National Employment Law Project estimates that 142,000 workers will receive the higher wages.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

"The minimum wage law requires employers to discriminate against persons with low skills. The high rate of unemployment among teenagers, and especially black teenagers, is both a scandal and a serious source of social unrest. Yet it is largely a result of minimum wage laws."

- Milton Friedman

[joshua c]

“The National Employment Law Project estimates that 142,000 workers will receive the higher wages.”

Wanna bet?

Maybe they can work for the companies who make the order kiosks.

[dp0622]

if 15 is the new low, then wont people who are making 20-30 feel like they are underpaid? the answer is yes. People I know who makes around that want to know when they will get equivalent raises.
I don’t want “The Jungle” days back, but that wasn’t going to happen anyway. 10-11 seemed reasonable. But I don’t own a business or have the economics degree to make the call.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Good! I have no problems with liberal hell-holes raising the minimum-wage.

Abolish it at the federal level.

[Telepathic Intruder]

If you force employers to pay more, they’ll just dig more out of their backyards where they have it greedily hoarded away so that they don’t have to hire more people.

[SaveFerris]

In 2018.

This is for the election. They know the U.S. could well be into serious financial collapse by then.

3 years into the future? LOL

[Fungi]

The only problem is once the policy is instituted, the unemployed fleeing the disaster just infect everywhere else they go. Is there no way to make a fence around Frisco to prevent anyone leaving once all the businesses close down?

[9thLife]

Why pussyfoot around? Just give everyone an annual allowance and assign work to them. Let the techies pay for it.

Go for it! Let's see how long it takes you to become Detroit-by-the-Sea.

[Organic Panic]

Oh I hope companies start going with automation. I am retooling my shop and attending classes to learn automation control systems in preparation. I will hire people that make much more than minimum wage to assemble and manufacture new machinery.

[Bubba_Leroy]

142,000 workers will lose their jobs.

[Scrambler Bob]

Mr. T I is correct.

[Popman]

The high rate of unemployment among teenagers, and especially black teenagers, is both a scandal and a serious source of social unrest. Yet it is largely a result of minimum wage laws."

6 % of city of San Francisco is black...13 % are under 18....Black teenagers are maybe 2 % of the population

So they can sleep well at night with their "white privilege"...

[windsorknot]

Once again unintended consequences will spoil misguided good intentions.

[Thud]

They should set it to $1000 per hour and make everyone in the City rich!

[SunkenCiv]

Local minimum wage setting at least makes sense -- a one size fits all set by the feds does not, and never has. Of course, it amounts to an additional local tax, and undermines employment -- but those setting it don't care about that, because they're trying to foster dependence.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

The only problem is once the policy is instituted, the unemployed fleeing the disaster just infect everywhere else they go.

No, they won't.

What will happen, is that these liberal hell-holes will see their conservative neighbors reduce or eliminate their minimum-wages, and see the prosperity for themselves.

Then residents of the liberal hell-holes will suddenly get the hint and work within their liberal hell-holes to reduce or eliminate the minimum-wage.

[Rusty0604]

There should not be any gov’t mandated minimum wage. Price fixing doesn’t work. A free market will find the correct price for goods and labor.

[kingu]

When I hear about stories like this, I gotta feel sorry for all those stupid shmucks who worked hard and were dedicated to their company so that their wages were raised to $12.50 an hour, but now any idiot can walk in and earn just as much.

But hey, it is all about helping the lowest rung...at the expense of everyone else.

[Rusty0604]

The blacks got priced out of SF and moved to Oakland.

[dp0622]

you're right. Funny thing is, I just looked up average salary of McD’s manager and it's 45k. Geez if you haven't made at least assistant management by 30 something’s really wrong.