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‘May Day’ marchers out of step with minimum wage experts
May 2017 · Jordan Bruneau and Michael Saltsman · The Hill
This week, coordinated May Day protests took place in major cities across the country. Among the marchers’ many demands: a $15 national minimum wage. The demonstrations come on the heels of last week’s $15 federal minimum wage legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders and co-sponsored by 22 progressive Senators. But expert opinion is out of step with these literal and legislative marches. A 2015 survey of U.S.-based… -
Michael Saltsman: Rhode Island’s minimum wage mistake
May 2017 · Michael Saltsman · Providence Journal
How many minimum wage hikes is too many? The Rhode Island legislature seems determined to find out. The state’s minimum wage has been increased in four of the last five years, rising by 30 percent over this time period — roughly 10 times more than the rate of inflation in the Northeast. Two recently-introduced pieces of legislation would raise the wage floor further, to as high as… -
Young adults: California’s forgotten class
April 2017 · Jordan Bruneau and Michael Saltsman · Orange County Register
California may have the world’s sixth-largest economy, but that’s cold comfort for young adults confronting a dismal summer job market. Once known for its beautiful beaches, moderate climate and stunning vistas, California today is better known for being inhospitable to the middle class — a net importer of better educated, higher-earning employees, and a net exporter of almost everyone else. For those who remain — young adults… -
Op-ed: Gov. Wolf’s minimum wage plans run into economic reality
April 2017 · Jordan Bruneau · Newsworks
Gov. Tom Wolf’s rose-colored minimum wage plans have run into green-eyeshade economic reality. A new report by Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office finds Gov. Wolf’s proposed 66 percent minimum wage increase to $12 would cost the state nearly 54,000 jobs. The report concludes these lost jobs would be concentrated in food service and retail sectors that often operate on razor-thin profit margins and have less ability to absorb dramatic increases in… -
Michael Saltsman and Jordan Bruneau: The ‘Fight for $15’ is flagging
April 2017 · Michael Saltsman and Jordan Bruneau · Tulsa World
A few days ago, Fight for $15 protesters engaged in another round of coordinated, nationwide fast food protests to agitate for dramatic minimum wage increases. This tired strategy was greeted with a collective yawn by the public. These protests were a microcosm for the Fight for $15 movement as a whole, which has recently suffered a series of high-profile setbacks. Recently, New Mexico Gov. Susanna Martinez… -
How states are crushing the $15 minimum wage movement
March 2017 · · CNBC
The Fight for $15, a campaign to organize the fast food industry, has encouraged a number of states and cities to raise their starter wage requirement as high as $15 an hour. But now, a backlash is building that could derail its momentum. Last week, Baltimore’s Democratic Mayor vetoed $15 wage legislation passed by the city council. Shortly before that the City Council in Flagstaff, Arizona voted to reduce…