Does Minimum Wage Increase Help Or Hurt The Appraisal Business?

[Deleted member 128537]

Or a better welfare to work policy.

Still too many bums on the dole for my liking.

Yes. True. Many (if not most) of those people have drug issues. Major problem. We need to figure out a way to help those people by holding them accountable and not enabling them.

 

[DTB]

Yes. True. Many (if not most) of those people have drug issues. Major problem. We need to figure out a way to help those people by holding them accountable and not enabling them.

We have a lot of rusty viaducts and bridges with no $$ to paint them, that's a start. The other 6 months we have a lot of corners/crosswalks to shovel.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

Right now in my area we have a labor shortage. I have talked to more small business people that say they can’t get workers. The latest says the economy only created 30,000 jobs. That’s bogus. That’s how many new people were actually employed. But the number of job openings is far higher. Had we had more qualified workers there would have been far more employed. In my area they are paying $20 an hour for cooks. In the summer they are starting at $15 per hour for a basic laborer.

This is one of the reasons we need to have a good immigration policy. In a growing economy and a labor shortage we need to open up the work visas; especially in critical areas such as farm workers.

So raising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour won't create jobs or help those with jobs in your area sense the prevailing market wage is higher.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

The examples of store closings iof 2018/2019 is not due to high minimum wages since that has yet to happen....

Owner cites minimum wage hike in closing of landmark Boston restaurant opened in 1827

January 04, 2019
Durgin-Park, the landmark Boston restaurant established in 1827 when John Quincy Adams was president, is closing — and the owner is citing the recently passed $15 minimum wage law in Massachusetts as one of the reasons.

The Boston Globe reported, "The Faneuil Hall restaurant will close on Jan. 12, according to restaurant manager Kenneth Thimothee, who cited financial reasons including an increased minimum wage. 'It’s very unfortunate, but the costs are too high,' he said."

Weinstein says the dwindling head count, increase in minimum wage and health care costs, the expensive upkeep of an old building and competition from the growing Seaport District were all factors in the restaurant's downfall."

Economic studies on minimum wages throughout the world, while not unanimous, have overwhelmingly concluded that increasing the minimum wage leads to fewer jobs, particularly among the lowest-skilled workers.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...-of-landmark-boston-restaurant-opened-in-1827

 

[Randolph Kinney]

The examples of store closings iof 2018/2019 is not due to high minimum wages since that has yet to happen....

The debate about the effect increases in the minimum wage have on employment is ongoing. Some studies find either no or only a small effect (here and here, for example), while others find significant effects (here and here). A study recently published in the American Economic Review provides new evidence that increases in the minimum wage reduce employment in the long run.

In terms of magnitude, they find that a 1% increase in wages leads to a 0.3% to 1% decrease in the employment rate depending on whether wages increase citywide or in only one industry.

The authors find that most of the negative employment effects that result from wage increases (which are cost increases) are due to more firms closing rather than firms laying off workers. Since more firm closings and fewer openings take longer to show up in the data than less hiring and more firing, it makes sense that the long-term effects of wage increases on employment are larger than short term effects.

The idea that higher wages affect employment via firm closings is also consistent with a study that finds lower quality restaurants are more likely to close following a minimum wage increase. Another study also finds that minimum wage increases reduce employment primarily through firm closings.

The authors directly apply their framework to recent minimum wage increases—all to $15 per hour—in Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. They estimate that Los Angeles’s increase will lead to a three percentage point decline in the city’s employment rate in the long run, while Seattle’s will lead to a two percentage point decline and San Francisco’s will lead to a one percentage point decline.

The effects are different because the minimum wage affects different percentages of the labor force in each city. In relatively high-wage San Francisco, fewer workers and firms are affected by a $15 minimum wage than in lower-wage Los Angeles.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/adammi...minimum-wages-impact-employment/#15e289831e7d

Studies are clear that raising the minimum wage higher than the prevailing market wage will cause store closings and employment will decline.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

The examples of store closings iof 2018/2019 is not due to high minimum wages since that has yet to happen....

Starbucks Is Closing 150 Stores, and It Has to Do with a Rising Minimum Wage

Having a Starbucks on every street corner may soon become a thing of the past. The coffee chain plans to shutter 150 shops in the U.S. in the upcoming year. Closings will be mostly in urban areas where stores are clustered together and rent and wages are high.

The closing stores are often in “major metro areas where increases in wage and occupancy and other regulatory requirements” are rendering them unprofitable, CEO Kevin Johnson said. “Now, in a lot of ways, it’s middle America and the South that presents an opportunity.”

The 150 closings were announced Tuesday amidst reports that U.S. sales growth has stalled. “Our growth has slowed a bit,” Johnson said. “I expect better, I think our shareholders deserve better, and we’re committed to address that.”

The latest round of closings will happen in the 2019 fiscal year. They reflect triple the average number the company has closed in recent years. In addition, Starbucks plans to slow the growth of licensed stores in airports, supermarkets, and retail stores. These non-company-owned stores tend to be less profitable. The chain can introduce products more quickly and keep its products and prices more consistent at its own stores, said chief Financial Officer Scott Maw.

https://www.cheatsheet.com/money-ca...it-has-to-do-with-a-rising-minimum-wage.html/

Cost matters to profitability. It becomes cheaper to close a store than to try to raise prices to cover cost.

 

[Randolph Kinney]

The examples of store closings iof 2018/2019 is not due to high minimum wages since that has yet to happen....

NYC’s minimum wage increase may lead to a business exodus

December 29, 2018
New York City business owners may soon take a hike — to neighboring towns in New Jersey and Connecticut, where labor costs now look much more attractive, say labor experts.

By Jan. 1, New York City will officially hike the minimum hourly wage from $13 to $15 for businesses with 11 or more employees, compared with a statewide increase of 25 cents in New Jersey to account for inflation.

And as New Jersey’s new minimum rate notches in at $8.85, or 41 percent lower than the Big Apple’s, Connecticut is standing pat at $10.10 hourly.

“New York City is raising the minimum at the same time as we hear of an increasing number of stores closing in New York City,” said Michael Saltsman, research director at the Employment Policies Institute, noting how many of these enterprises offered “gateway” jobs in low-wage sectors. Those were a step toward higher pay later for workers who gained experience and more education.

The prospect of businesses avoiding the Big Apple, or moving from New York City to lower-paying New Jersey and Connecticut, is gaining momentum as the clock ticks toward the New Year.

 

[ucbruin]

Owner cites minimum wage hike in closing of landmark Boston restaurant opened in 1827

January 04, 2019
Durgin-Park, the landmark Boston restaurant established in 1827 when John Quincy Adams was president, is closing — and the owner is citing the recently passed $15 minimum wage law in Massachusetts as one of the reasons.

The Boston Globe reported, "The Faneuil Hall restaurant will close on Jan. 12, according to restaurant manager Kenneth Thimothee, who cited financial reasons including an increased minimum wage. 'It’s very unfortunate, but the costs are too high,' he said."

Weinstein says the dwindling head count, increase in minimum wage and health care costs, the expensive upkeep of an old building and competition from the growing Seaport District were all factors in the restaurant's downfall."

Economic studies on minimum wages throughout the world, while not unanimous, have overwhelmingly concluded that increasing the minimum wage leads to fewer jobs, particularly among the lowest-skilled workers.


https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...-of-landmark-boston-restaurant-opened-in-1827

""According to Ark Restaurants CEO Michael Weinstein, the restaurant wasn't profitable anymore. He says business has been down about 30 percent over the last five years. Weinstein says the dwindling head count,..."

The above is in the article you posted....

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What You Need to Know About Massachusetts Minimum Wage Increases


"What happened in 2018?
In late June 2018, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill that will progressively raise the state standard minimum wage from $11 an hour to $15 an hour, beginning in 2019. For tipped employees, the minimum wage will increase to $6.75 by 2023."


https://squareup.com/townsquare/guide-to-massachusetts-minimum-wage

According to the chart in the article MA minimum wage for 2019 is $12....

If anything high rent and a bad menu, bad service and bad quality food had a greater impact than wages....

30% drop in business during the past 5 years can't be blamed on wages....

 

[Randolph Kinney]

The examples of store closings iof 2018/2019 is not due to high minimum wages since that has yet to happen....

Ocasio-Cortez Mourns Restaurant Driven Out Of Business By Minimum Wage Law She Backs

Economic Illiteracy: This week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "swung by" to say goodbye to a restaurant where she used to work. What she didn't say is that it is closing because the owners can't afford New York City's soon-to-be $15 minimum wage — the very job-killing policy Ocasio-Cortez and her fellow Democrats want to impose nationwide.

"The restaurant I used to work at is closing its doors," Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Monday. "I swung by today to say hi one last time, and kid around with friends like old times."

She was referring to the popular Coffee Shop in Union Square, which was frequented by A-list celebrities and featured on "Sex and the City." Despite its popularity, the Coffee Shop is going out of business. Why?

Co-owner Charles Milite told the New York Post that the main reason was "the minimum wage is going up and we have a huge number of employees."

As a result, Milite's 150 workers will soon see their actual wage drop to zero.

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/ocasio-cortez-minimum-wage-jobs/

 

[Overimprovement]

People are not poor because they make too little. They are poor because they spend too much relative to their earnings. Just like government

I have some Mexican friends who own some restaurants in my market area--some Mexican of course, but Italian as well! Anyway, they buy houses near their restaurants for the workers to live in. It is not uncommon for 10-14 people to live in these 2-3 bedroom homes, most of whom do not otherwise know each other. They all share in utility cost, they walk or bike to work, get free meals and a decent wage at the restaurant, and generally have no debt.

Within 2-3 years, most of them have saved enough cash to BUY their own small home, debt-free, at which point they send for their family, if they aren't already in the states.

I greatly admire their business sense, intelligence, strong work ethic, long term views on money, and family values. They are not clamoring to make more money. They are very happy to be in this country, where they feel is great opportunity.

Ask them if they want to see minimum wages increased by force.