If the minimum wage were just adjusted to keep up with inflation or cost of living, whatever you want to call it, it would still be a bit under $10. I could see that, really, since in real terms it's just paying the same thing people were paid back then. $15, though, is totally out of line and especially for restaurants.
I think the bottom line is being able to make the argument that employees being paid with tax dollars aren't making enough money or aren't that much better off than people making minimum wage. Whatever the reason, there's a lot more to the drive for a $15 minimum wage than helping out the suckers who are soon to be unemployed due to the higher labor costs.
You can bet the people pushing for this know full well it'll put a lot of people out of work but it's still going to be part of their argument for higher tax paid wages sooner or later. Especially since they'll still be comparing apples to oranges by comparing full time tax paid employees with part time minimum wage employees who have nothing near the sort of benefits and work rules the tax sucking people do.
JMHo
Ah, you seem to forget in 50/60, govt was small enough that one adult in the home could bring in enough for: 2 kids, a home, a car, TV, vacations, college....
Yet, I see NO authority for the ‘minimum wage’ to begin. In fact, I seem to recall something about interference in contracts (aka employment)....I’ll have to dig to pull it back up /s
I started at $1.20 in the mid-1960s working part-time while in high school after classes. As I became more valuable by learning more skills, the boss gave me raises. Skills like handling a torch, heavy machinery and machine skills; I soon quadrupled my salary, and then became a supervisor.
Kids nowadays think they deserve more money just by breathing. Nope, you have to prove value to your boss so you're too valuable to lose to someone else.