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Actually retirees that own homes are making bank using Air BnB. Renting rooms out. People don't understand the Seattle economy. And who wants to live in Arizona?! We have tons of Floridians moving here judging by the license plates. Arizona is #4 and Florida is #5 of states contributing to Seattle growth. Texas is #2.
What people ignore is that this doesn't give workers the benefit many seem to think it does. The side effect of raising the minimum wage is that it raises the prices of everything else. This is one of those laws that looks good on paper, but doesn't give any sort of benefit when put into practice. You may be making $15 an hour but that doesn't make much difference when everything you have to buy costs more.
The people in the northwest have a bit of love affair for desert places. I have known a number of people who have moved from here to areas like Arizona and Las Vegas for the sun and dry weather. I have also known people who have moved up here to get away from the heat and desert area. So I wouldn't try to read too much into this because most people that are making that move are doing it for weather reasons.
What people ignore is that this doesn't give workers the benefit many seem to think it does. The side effect of raising the minimum wage is that it raises the prices of everything else. This is one of those laws that looks good on paper, but doesn't give any sort of benefit when put into practice. You may be making $15 an hour but that doesn't make much difference when everything you have to buy costs more.
The cost of everything in Seattle is already expensive, that has little to do with the wages and more to do with the costs of rents. It makes sense to pay people more so that they too can afford to live in those cities that are more costly. Paying people less doesn't make the cost of goods go down, it just makes it so the people who work there can't afford to live there or buy goods there.
The UW study, which examines the first-year implementation of Seattle’s minimum wage law to $11, reveals while Seattle’s lowest-wage workers are earning slightly more, they have suffered reduced hours and lower rates of employment.
Even worse, as a result of what the study calls the “negative unintended consequence” of fewer hours and reduced employment, Seattle’s lowest-wage workers are actually doing worse compared to low-wage workers in other parts of the state. Despite the city’s hot economy, Seattle workers are “lagging behind” their counterparts from other cities with less robust economies.
The UW study also reveals prices in the restaurant industry, heavily reliant on minimum-wage workers, increased an average of 9 percent after Seattle’s wage jumped to $11.
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Considering Washington is already struggling with the nation’s seventh-highest unemployment rate, perhaps we should focus on policies that would create more jobs instead of imposing even more limitations on the state’s labor market.
What people ignore is that this doesn't give workers the benefit many seem to think it does. The side effect of raising the minimum wage is that it raises the prices of everything else. This is one of those laws that looks good on paper, but doesn't give any sort of benefit when put into practice. You may be making $15 an hour but that doesn't make much difference when everything you have to buy costs more.
I don't necessarily buy this. Most of what most people consume by value isn't low wage labor. Think of the major costs in your life:
Only (partially) taxes, food, and if you need long-term care healthcare are heavily impacted by the cost of low-cost labor.
If you're at minimum wage, taxes are mostly paid by other people, you're working so you're not absorbing long term care expenses, so really only food is impacted and that won't be big enough of an impact to remove the benefit.
There IS an edge-case scenario where a city which does not allow meaningful construction of housing raises minimum wages and it all flows into the pockets of the local slumlords, but from what I've heard Seattle is relatively good about actually allowing development.
The people in the northwest have a bit of love affair for desert places. I have known a number of people who have moved from here to areas like Arizona and Las Vegas for the sun and dry weather. I have also known people who have moved up here to get away from the heat and desert area. So I wouldn't try to read too much into this because most people that are making that move are doing it for weather reasons.
I get it, I live in New Mexico. I still think if the cost of living goes to a certain level in Seattle, whatever that may be, retired folks may be tempted to jump ship.
Not everyone benefits with a minimum wage increase like the OP would have you believe. There are winners and there are losers, just like with virtually every regulation. If we are going to have a conversation, then we need to look at it from all angles. I am all for Seattle's $15 minimum wage if that is what they want, but the federal rate is another matter completely.
I think $15 an hour might work in a high cost of living place like Seattle. However, I think it would destroy an economy like in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
I think $15 an hour might work in a high cost of living place like Seattle. However, I think it would destroy an economy like in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
This is the case! There are areas in our country that could support a $15/hr rate but many more could not. That said, minimum wage in Seattle is not yet $15/hr. so the jury is still out.
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