Famed Blogger's Pic From McDonald's Captures Exactly What the Fight for $15 Accomplished
A famous blogger tweeted an image from the lobby of McDonald’s showing that the “fight for 15 really worked out.”
The image shows an electronic kiosk where customers can place their orders instead of paying an employee to stand behind a cash register.
The Fight for $15 is a campaign underwritten by the Service Employees International Union that tries to get large cities to adopt a $15 minimum wage, according to The Atlantic.
Managing director at the Employment Policies Institute Michael Saltsman warned that the city-specific minimum wage can hurt small employers, and sometimes lead to the closing of the business, The Hill reported.
“Generally, it’s shown that if you raise the minimum wage, you tend to see reductions in hours for younger employees,” Saltsman said.
Twitter users commented on Walsh’s post, some with surprise and others with contempt.
One woman even pointed out that her husband doesn’t even make $15 an hour as a police offer.
Minimum wage workers in 18 states received pay increases at the start of 2018.
These wage increases were put in place by ballot initiatives that had been pushed by unions and workers rights groups over the past few years. Some of them are the start of phased-in steps toward a higher wage, according to The Hill.
A senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Jared Bernstein, told The Hill that states have been raising minimum wages as a reflection of people with higher education taking low-wage jobs because fewer high-wage jobs are available.
“As the population of low wage workers has become a bit more upscale, many places are willing to adjust their minimum wages, especially given the pervasive research that supports moderate increases,” Bernstein said in an interview, according to The Hill. “States and localities have been increasingly willing to raise their own minimum wages as the federal value has been stuck at $7.25.”
A report from the Mercatus Center at George Mason University revealed that the increase in minimum wages is the most significant factor in pushing teens out of the workforce.
“It seems to just be diminished work opportunities,” said David Neumark, an economics professor at the University of California-Irvine and the author of the study. “They are more likely to just be in high school.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
