Quote:A proposed gradual increase in New York’s minimum wage from $9 to $15 an hour would increase wages by an average of 23 percent for nearly 3.2 million workers by mid- 2021 and will not have a negative effect on overall employment, says a comprehensive new study released today by UC Berkeley.

Quote:He also claimed that higher minimum wages lead companies like his to cut lower-paid entry-level jobs, which hurts teenagers looking to get a foothold into the workforce. But there is not a lot of compelling evidence that higher minimum wages lead to job losses, even among teens.

Quote:But in early 2015, Walmart announced it would actually pay its workers more. That set in motion the biggest test imaginable of a basic argument that has consumed ivory-tower economists, union-hall organizers and corporate executives for years on end: What if paying workers more, training them better and offering better opportunities for advancement can actually make a company more profitable, rather than less? It is an idea that flies in the face of the prevailing ethos on Wall Street and in many executive suites the last few decades.

But there is sound economic theory behind the idea. "Efficiency wages" is the term that economists — who excel at giving complex names to obvious ideas — use for the notion that employers who pay workers more than the going rate will get more loyal, harder-working, more productive employees in return. Walmart's experiment holds some surprising lessons for the American economy as a whole. Productivity gains have been slow for years; could fatter paychecks reverse that? Demand for goods and services has remained stubbornly low ever since the 2008 economic crisis. If companies paid people more, would it bring out more shoppers — benefiting workers and shareholders alike?

Quote:By adjusting the minimum wage for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) over time, it shows that in the last 25 years there has been no real increase in the minimum wage. Inflation has quickly erased any adjustments, keeping it stagnant for years. Further, in real terms, the minimum wage peaked in value in 1968, just before Nixon severed the connection between the dollar and gold. In the inflationary years that followed, the real minimum wage eventually dropped to $6.77, a staggering 41.0% decrease. The real wage has basically hovered between $6.50 and $8.00 ever since.

Quote:Target's move blows up the claims of corporate lobbyists who argue it's simply not possible for industries like retail and restaurants to pay a $15 minimum wage. In fact, growing numbers of business owners  and  economists confirm that a phased-in $15 minimum wage is realistic for employers and will help boost the consumer spending that ultimately drives job growth. But ultimately the imperative to pay a living wage is about our nation's values. As La Colombe CEO Todd Carmichael argued last week, "unless you pay your employees a nonpredatory living wage that keeps people and their families above the poverty line, you don't deserve to be in business." Part of what's driving employers like Target to pay $15 an hour is the simple fact that, everywhere in America—not just on the coasts-- a single worker will soon need to earn at least that much just to afford the basics. 

And we all end up subsidizing those low wages. Low pay by corporations like McDonald's and Walmart cost taxpayers a whopping $153 billion a year in public assistance to working families, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. A key issue when employers like Target raise pay is what happens to the growing numbers of employees who don't work for them directly but instead through staffing agencies or service contractors. In the Twin Cities, Target has already been a leader in tackling this issue, agreeing last year to support the efforts of its contracted janitors to unionize and raise their pay substantially.

Ensuring that more employers raise standards for contracted and direct employees alike is essential in our increasingly "fissured" workplaces. Low pay is hurting America's working families and holding back our economy, which depends on a thriving consumer class to drive growth. Target's plan to raise pay to $15 an hour over the next 30 months is smart business strategy, and what our nation's workforce and economy need. There's now a bullseye on the back of employers like Amazon, Walmart and McDonalds. They should follow Target's lead..

Quote:The minimum wage reached or surpassed $15 an hour in 17 localities across the country on New Year's Day, according to a report by the National Employment Law Project (NELP.) The House earlier this year passed the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour; however, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) does not plan to advance the bill in the Senate. In the absence of congressional action, states and cities are taking the lead.

Beginning this month, 21 states and 26 cities and counties will phase in minimum wage increases or adjust their wage floors to keep pace with the rising cost of living, according to NELP, which hailed the trend as “unprecedented.” And later this year there will be another round of raises in four states and 23 cities and counties, with 15 localities seeing their minimum wage rise to at least $15 an hour. The $15 hourly rate previously only applied to businesses with more than 11 employees, but was expanded to all New York City workers on Jan. 1. Meanwhile, minimum wage in the District of Columbia will also rise to $15 an hour — a one dollar increase from its current level — starting in July. “We’re seeing an unprecedented number of states, cities and counties raise the minimum wage,” said Yannet Lathrop, a researcher and policy analyst with NELP, who authored the report on minimum wage increases across the country.