To view a recent interview with Neil Cavuto on this topic, please click on this link: http://tiny.cc/t8472x
If you want additional details, just continue to read.
Yesterday, I did an interview with Neil Cavuto regarding Vice President Biden and NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s support for paying workers a $15 minimum wage. Neil kicks off the segment entitled, CKE Restaurants CEO: $15 minimum wage kills jobs, by saying Cuomo abandoned his initial support of a multi-tiered minimum wage, higher in the more expensive NYC area and lower in the outskirts, for an all across the board increase. Neil correctly states that the increase will make a mess of things for the fast food industry.
As I wrote earlier this week in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, early research shows the $15 minimum wage increase is having a negative impact in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, except maybe those who don’t run a business for a living. Here’s why: if you increase wages in such a “draconian fashion,” it takes away from the ability of businesses to absorb the increase in pricing and forces them to use labor more efficiently or resort to automation, resulting in the loss of jobs. As I told Neil, mandating increased wages won’t help people who are looking for jobs, making the overall employment situation worse. With labor participation at a 38 year low, 6.5 million people working part time because they can’t find full time jobs, and another 6 million out of the labor force who want a job now, our focus should be on creating jobs rather than eliminating them.
I’ve experienced how hard it is to earn a living, to support a family, to live paycheck to paycheck, to do more with less. But, eliminating jobs and opportunity isn’t the solution. There’s an alternative. We need an opportunity based economy where anyone who wants to work can find a job and earn success. If businesses can thrive, there will be increased opportunity for everyone.
Comments