SF New Mexican: City bumps pay floor to national high.
“The city announced Thursday that the wage floor will increase to $10.29 an hour — up from the $9.85 imposed on employers for the last two years and a nickel higher than San Francisco’s.” It’s difficult to discern the direct effects of the living wage, other than portion sizes going down, quality going down, and prices go up at local ‘affordable’ restaurants. Perhaps fewer sales clerks in small retail stores. Businesses that used to skim by on the edge of profitability are largely gone. I see a lot of moving, looking for cheaper rental spaces.
Comments:
The effects that you attribute to the living wage can easily be attributed to the bad economy or badly run restaurants or shops. In fact, the promises from business leaders opposed to this; that small business in Santa Fe would dry up due to this law, have proven to be empty.
C’mon, you’re a web designer! You should have plenty of first hand experience with people who don’t value the cost of your labor (i.e. “please design me a facebook for $200"). Imagine if you didn’t have any choice; like a lot of low wage workers don’t.
As a former dish washer, I know these folks work long hard hours and $10/hr isn’t making them rich. Just better able to make ends meet.
Elise, that’s true. I should pull restaurants out of the mix. Yet I see fewer staff, smaller portions, lower quality at many restaurants. This could be economy, unrealistic rents, or food prices. Given the fact that these factors have seemed to fluctuate independent of the minimum wage hikes, now that you point these facts out, I’ll lean towards food prices. So I’ll pull that out of my assumptions about living wage.
Jabo, what makes you believe I oppose the minimum wage? For that’s what I read in your post. You sound irate ... what did I say that got you angry, if you don’t mind my asking? I posted some observations, that’s all. Please help me understand.
My apologies that I misread you. I follow your blog regularly and find your opinions and information insightful and well thought out. Sorry that my post sounded so strident.
It just seemed that your first sentence - “It’s difficult to discern the direct effects of the living wage, other than portion sizes going down… etc.” rang out as a critique of the living wage ordinance (i.e. we’d have bigger portions if it wasn’t for that durn livin wage!). Maybe you believe that it has these effects but you still support it. I would argue that it does not.
There are plenty of reasons for seeing the effects you describe. Most restaurants in town aren’t doing well because of the drop in customers (fewer people go out to eat during bad economy). Food prices have also gone up. And there are some truly badly run places. I remember when the living wage passed and business was doing fine until the recession hit.
The idea that a business can’t survive or give good service because the employee pay is too high strikes a nerve. I’ve worked in plenty of restaurants so I reflexively stand up for people who work in them because I know how hard it is.
Since it appears we are on the same side on this… I will unclench, take deep breaths and meditate until the throbbing vein on my forehead goes away.
For the record, I would never - NEVER - oppose the minimum wage. I’ve worked at that pay scale too many times in my life, and remember it well.
The message that keeps being communicated to me by smaller businesses in Santa Fe is, in essence: “We’re caught between the hammer of a bad economy and the anvil of the living wage.”
Whether that’s true or not, I have to admit I have no definitive way to measure results/effects. I wonder if *anyone* does? As you saw above, I’ve retracted my suppositions about restaurants and their employees.
So, I hear the complaints from businesspeople, but I never see or hear anyone crowing about how *great* the living wage really IS. I think I’m not the only one to miss this significant part of the story. Local news should run a series on what the living wage is actually doing for individuals and famlies. It would help to give the ethic some better PR.
This is where some well-cut before/after personal video interviews would be powerful ...
In other words, I’m not opposed. I just want to know what positive effects it’s having - rather than just hearing the negatives.
[thought I needed to clarify.]
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Tipped service industry employees earn less than 1/3 the minimum wage, though, and on average, more than 75% of a restaurant’s staff is tipped. Even that staff who appear not to earn tips (hostesses, barbacks, busboys, etc.) do, and fall under the tipped employee minimum wage, since they’re tipped out by servers. An employee only has to make $20-$30 (depending on state/city) a month in tips to be considered a tipped employee. Restaurants are hurting, but not because of payroll.