What a horrible time for NY to be raising its minimum wage
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With the start of the new year, the mandatory minimum wage for upstate workers is leaping up by a dollar, to $14.20/hour. With inflation soaring, New York’s labor market trailing and a recession feared on the horizon, it’s hard to think of a worse time for such a jump.
So what are those whip-smart progressives calling for? More increases. They never learn.
Some years back, leftist radicals teamed up with labor to get lawmakers to agree to a stunning 67% hike — from $9 to $15 — that would phase in over a few years starting in 2016. The rate for workers in the city hit $15 in 2020, and for those in Westchester and Long Island, 2022.
Meanwhile, New York state has yet to recover all its pre-pandemic jobs, even as the rest of the country more than recovered months ago. Unemployment here (4.3%) also lags the nation (3.6%). And young folks in New York just entering the job market, between 16 and 24 — i.e., those most affected by the minimum wage — have been especially hard hit. As of October, per state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, 17.9% couldn’t find work in the city, and 9.3% elsewhere in the state; nationwide, the figure was just 8.3%
Yet now upstate businesses, already squeezed by inflation, will have to pay workers more, forcing many to simply cut jobs and/or raise prices. As numerous studies have shown, when faced with wage hikes, employers not only hire fewer workers, they also substitute higher-skilled workers for lesser-skilled ones.
So the hike to $14.20 will not only worsen inflation, it’ll also hurt post-COVID job recovery and stymie the employment prospects of low-skill workers.
No matter: Progressives in the Legislature are already beating the drums for an even higher rate, $21, to phase in by 2026. That’s a 233% jump from the $9 rate in just 10 years.
If the idea is to kill the state’s economy completely and dash the hopes of younger, low-skilled workers, it’s a fantastic plan. But for those workers, and everyone else feeling clobbered by higher prices and fearing a recession, it’s sock in the mouth.
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