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Left out of the boingboing praise, but in the abstract: "On net, the minimum wage increase from $9.47 to as much as $13 per hour raised earnings by an average

Left out of the boingboing praise, but in the abstract: "On net, the minimum wage increase from $9.47 to as much as $13 per hour raised earnings by an average of $8-$12 per week. The entirety of these gains accrued to workers with above-median experience at baseline; less-experienced workers saw no significant change to weekly pay. Approximately one-quarter of the earnings gains can be attributed to experienced workers making up for lost hours in Seattle with work outside the city limits." That seems opposite to the summary in Boingboing. It's also in agreement with many studies and theory which should price the lowest performing out of jobs as they cannot add enough value to make it worth an employer hiring them. Increased wages by fiat long enough merely increase inflation.

Retric 8y ago
Wages are not a uniform entity. Increasing the minimum wage has very minimal economic impact becase it makes up a tiny fraction of the US economy. Consider increasing pay 7$ per hour for all 542,000 US workers workers making minimum wage * 40 hours a week * 48 weeks a year = 7.2 Billion per year that’s chump change at under 0.04% US GDP. (That’s right not under 4% but under 0.04%.) Yes, many people make more than minimum wage, but not 7$ more than minimum wage. However, for them it’s a smaller increase so again it does not add up to much.
- ChrisLomont 8y ago
  I don't see how it addresses the issues in the research. Care to explain? If min wage is set to X, anyone incapable of adding more then X to an employer is priced out of the job market. In this research the rise in wages resulted in reduced hours which were made up in neighboring markets which did not have this min wage.
  - Retric 8y ago
    I was addressing your inflation statement which is really not supported by evidence. In terms of pricing people out of the workforce, that’s not nessisarily a bad thing on net assuming a strong safty net. But again separate argument.
    - ChrisLomont 8y ago
      Two things: raising the min wage puts upward pressure on wages above the min also, so your estimate is not correct. Someone making min+1 will still expect to make min+~1 after the hike. Also, inflation need not be national to be inflation. This is why places with higher min wages tend to have higher overall wages and higher overall prices. These things do not operate in a vacuum. Look at prices where wages are low compared to process where wages are high, e.g., SF versus smalltown Alabama. So there is ample evidence that these things are related. By taking national averages you necessarily miss the local variation which clearly shows a price/wage correlation.
TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
> Increased wages by fiat long enough merely increase inflation. If this is true then places with low minimum wage should also exhibit lower inflation than places with high minimum wage. Can this be demonstrated?
- AnthonyMouse 8y ago
  > If this is true then places with low minimum wage should also exhibit lower inflation than places with high minimum wage. The analog to minimum wage isn't rate of inflation, it's prices. Places with a lower minimum wage do have lower prices. (The analog to rate of inflation would be rate of change in the minimum wage.)
  - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
    True, thank you, that's a good point.
boomboomsubban 8y ago
Did you look at what the study considered "experienced?" It was "greater than 700 hours worked for the past two quarters," which is about 18 hours a week for the previous six months. All of these jobs can be considered the "lowest performing," and I'm not sure what part if the summary you think this contradicts.

Retric 8y ago

Wages are not a uniform entity. Increasing the minimum wage has very minimal economic impact becase it makes up a tiny fraction of the US economy. Consider increasing pay 7$ per hour for all 542,000 US workers workers making minimum wage * 40 hours a week * 48 weeks a year = 7.2 Billion per year that’s chump change at under 0.04% US GDP. (That’s right not under 4% but under 0.04%.) Yes, many people make more than minimum wage, but not 7$ more than minimum wage. However, for them it’s a smaller increase so again it does not add up to much.

ChrisLomont 8y ago
I don't see how it addresses the issues in the research. Care to explain? If min wage is set to X, anyone incapable of adding more then X to an employer is priced out of the job market. In this research the rise in wages resulted in reduced hours which were made up in neighboring markets which did not have this min wage.
- Retric 8y ago
  I was addressing your inflation statement which is really not supported by evidence. In terms of pricing people out of the workforce, that’s not nessisarily a bad thing on net assuming a strong safty net. But again separate argument.
  - ChrisLomont 8y ago
    Two things: raising the min wage puts upward pressure on wages above the min also, so your estimate is not correct. Someone making min+1 will still expect to make min+~1 after the hike. Also, inflation need not be national to be inflation. This is why places with higher min wages tend to have higher overall wages and higher overall prices. These things do not operate in a vacuum. Look at prices where wages are low compared to process where wages are high, e.g., SF versus smalltown Alabama. So there is ample evidence that these things are related. By taking national averages you necessarily miss the local variation which clearly shows a price/wage correlation.

TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago

> Increased wages by fiat long enough merely increase inflation. If this is true then places with low minimum wage should also exhibit lower inflation than places with high minimum wage. Can this be demonstrated?

AnthonyMouse 8y ago
> If this is true then places with low minimum wage should also exhibit lower inflation than places with high minimum wage. The analog to minimum wage isn't rate of inflation, it's prices. Places with a lower minimum wage do have lower prices. (The analog to rate of inflation would be rate of change in the minimum wage.)
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
  True, thank you, that's a good point.

boomboomsubban 8y ago

Did you look at what the study considered "experienced?" It was "greater than 700 hours worked for the past two quarters," which is about 18 hours a week for the previous six months. All of these jobs can be considered the "lowest performing," and I'm not sure what part if the summary you think this contradicts.