That is pretty content-light for HN. Of course the price of an employee matters and if their minimum wage goes up they will be subject to greater competition from others.
> "saying that service staff deserve to be replaced by iPads if they demand a fair wage"
Terrible editorializing. Nothing in the original billboard suggests anyone "deserves" any particular treatment. But I suppose "Billboard warns employees that minimum wage legislation can't completely subvert market realities" doesn't make for as good of a viral hook.
A $15 minimum wage has many possible outcomes - 1)businesses close 2)prices increase 3)employees are laid off or 4)the business stays afloat with lower profits. It seems like wishful thinking to believe that only the fourth option will happen.
It's also frustrating that the narrative is that this is a class struggle, that the poor will benefit from higher minimum wage at the expense of the rich. Many low-income people will be much worse off in a world where entry level or unskilled jobs are hard to find. Taken to an extreme - how many people would be unemployed and unemployable if the minimum wage was set to $100/hr? Likewise, some number of people will be priced out of the employment market at $15/hr.
I don't know what ideal minimum wage is for SF, but I know that cliche class struggle narratives aren't helping address any of the real problems or complexities of the issue.
4 comments
[ 5.5 ms ] story [ 23.0 ms ] threadLooking for hypocrisy: the standard maneuver when narcissism is confronted with a greater power.
Indeed. It was briefly let out of jail because of a mistake I made: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8055336.
It's reassuring to see people complaining about stuff that the software normally penalizes. A natural experiment!
Terrible editorializing. Nothing in the original billboard suggests anyone "deserves" any particular treatment. But I suppose "Billboard warns employees that minimum wage legislation can't completely subvert market realities" doesn't make for as good of a viral hook.
A $15 minimum wage has many possible outcomes - 1)businesses close 2)prices increase 3)employees are laid off or 4)the business stays afloat with lower profits. It seems like wishful thinking to believe that only the fourth option will happen.
It's also frustrating that the narrative is that this is a class struggle, that the poor will benefit from higher minimum wage at the expense of the rich. Many low-income people will be much worse off in a world where entry level or unskilled jobs are hard to find. Taken to an extreme - how many people would be unemployed and unemployable if the minimum wage was set to $100/hr? Likewise, some number of people will be priced out of the employment market at $15/hr.
I don't know what ideal minimum wage is for SF, but I know that cliche class struggle narratives aren't helping address any of the real problems or complexities of the issue.