There are always so many carve outs to these requirements. Also the incraases are usually phased in over multiple years. I don’t know whether $25 is the right number or not but some of these posters act like any form of minim wage is offensive. They can go back to the 1920s.

One thing that I think is hard about higher minimum wages is that it often doesn’t recognize the value of other benefits. So getting $20 an hour with full health benefits, paid leave, life insurance and a pension is better than &25 with none of that. Sometimes these laws also have carve outs for employees represented by a union, which presumably has some economic power to make rational decisions about trade offs between wages and other benefits.

This will be music to the ears of unemployed CS majors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine having to pay some teenager the equivalent of roughly $55k per year just to wash dishes or scrub toilets:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/workers-labor-advocates-call-for-dc-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-25/4025867/

R.I.P. DC economy. No am I going to pay $100/entree for mediocre food or, $900/night for a garbage hotel simply because businesses have to cover out control labor costs.

No teenagers are washing dishes or scrubbing toilets.

And BTW, why shouldn't people who do those jobs earn that much? Those are hard jobs. They certainly have more importance and value than, say, lobbying, consulting, private equity or being a legislative aide.

But, oh, wait, you were TROLLING, weren't you?

You know what's hard? Clearing debris out of a field like rolling stones and moving logs. Just because it is hard doesnt mean it is valuable. It requires zero mental aptitude and zero special skills like carpentry or electrical knowledge. Why should we over reward low skill, low knowledge jobs?

Anonymous wrote:Imagine having to pay some teenager the equivalent of roughly $55k per year just to wash dishes or scrub toilets:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/workers-labor-advocates-call-for-dc-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-25/4025867/

R.I.P. DC economy. No am I going to pay $100/entree for mediocre food or, $900/night for a garbage hotel simply because businesses have to cover out control labor costs.

No teenagers are washing dishes or scrubbing toilets.

And BTW, why shouldn't people who do those jobs earn that much? Those are hard jobs. They certainly have more importance and value than, say, lobbying, consulting, private equity or being a legislative aide.

But, oh, wait, you were TROLLING, weren't you?

Anonymous wrote:Imagine having to pay some teenager the equivalent of roughly $55k per year just to wash dishes or scrub toilets:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/workers-labor-advocates-call-for-dc-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-25/4025867/

R.I.P. DC economy. No am I going to pay $100/entree for mediocre food or, $900/night for a garbage hotel simply because businesses have to cover out control labor costs.

The average waiter/waitress wage with tips right now is around $25 - $30/hour, so this means more restaurants will eliminate tips from the bill and raise prices to cover. The overall restaurant bill to the consumer won't change much. High end restaurant staff will be pissed since many of them make significantly more than $30/hour...though my assumption is the hourly wage will be something much higher than $25/hour for them.

This all really crushes small, independent businesses. So, now there will be more Chipotles, Paneras, Maggianos et al who have far more ability to automate certain functions and optimize staff use. The unemployment rate will probably increase.

I actually don't worry too much about $100 entrees or $900 room nights...people aren't stupid, if hotels or restaurants in VA or MD are significantly cheaper, then they will stay there. Competition will keep prices reasonably in check, though VA and MD will welcome the ability to raise prices and increase margins if DC service businesses decide to do so.

Only $25? Why not a million dollars an hour? Then we wouldn't have any low income people at all, right? RIGHT?!?

I understand the sentiment, but it's ridiculous. Another reason that there is no way I'm voting for Janeese Lewis George.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Imagine having to pay some teenager the equivalent of roughly $55k per year just to wash dishes or scrub toilets:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/workers-labor-advocates-call-for-dc-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-25/4025867/

R.I.P. DC economy. No am I going to pay $100/entree for mediocre food or, $900/night for a garbage hotel simply because businesses have to cover out control labor costs.

Teenagers are not during these jobs. They are competing with people who can work all year, without regard to limited hour restrictions. Basically most of these jobs are occupied by adults taking care of a family. With that said, that is a ridiculously high minimum wage salary for so little skills, so the question becomes will salary automatically increase for the skilled labor.

If someone with zero education and no skills gets $55k to take out your office trash bins, now your secretary with a bachelor's degree and 10 years experience will demand $110k salary just to afford restaurants that now cost $60/entree. If the secretary makes $110k, now we gotta pay teacher $200k, the scientist $350k and doctors $1M per year. The wage inflation spiral will never end until we are paying $1000 for dinner at Applebee's.

Anonymous wrote:Imagine having to pay some teenager the equivalent of roughly $55k per year just to wash dishes or scrub toilets:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/workers-labor-advocates-call-for-dc-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-25/4025867/

R.I.P. DC economy. No am I going to pay $100/entree for mediocre food or, $900/night for a garbage hotel simply because businesses have to cover out control labor costs.

Teenagers are not during these jobs. They are competing with people who can work all year, without regard to limited hour restrictions. Basically most of these jobs are occupied by adults taking care of a family. With that said, that is a ridiculously high minimum wage salary for so little skills, so the question becomes will salary automatically increase for the skilled labor.

The minimum wage in PG County is $17.00. I imagine that those who work in similar jobs in PG will try to transfer to a DC location. That is a big difference in salary to simply cross the line.

This is why states like CA are foolish when they arbitrarily increase the minimum wage. It has to result in increased prices, layoffs or banks. Econ 101 tells us that

Did you see the part where this is a campaign by activists? In response to the council repealing part of a previous minimum wage raise?

Of course activists want this. Doesn't mean they'll get it.

I don’t know how wages differ between DC, MoCo and NoVa…but I don’t notice any price difference between restaurants in the three locales. Ironically, I avoid NoVa because the restaurant tax is so high.

Anonymous wrote:Imagine having to pay some teenager the equivalent of roughly $55k per year just to wash dishes or scrub toilets:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/workers-labor-advocates-call-for-dc-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-25/4025867/

R.I.P. DC economy. No am I going to pay $100/entree for mediocre food or, $900/night for a garbage hotel simply because businesses have to cover out control labor costs.

This would hollow out the mid range restaurants and take a good chunk of commercial real estate with it. The expense account places will be fine.

Imagine having to pay some teenager the equivalent of roughly $55k per year just to wash dishes or scrub toilets:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/workers-labor-advocates-call-for-dc-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-25/4025867/

R.I.P. DC economy. No am I going to pay $100/entree for mediocre food or, $900/night for a garbage hotel simply because businesses have to cover out control labor costs.