- May 2018
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The $15 figure is not an accident, but it's also not the product of careful research. It's a slogan from an activist movement — Fight for $15 — that's been working for years and is now racking up an impressive series of policy wins.
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For example, one study released last month by economists at the University of California, San Diego and the American Enterprise Institute estimated that minimum wage hikes of more than a dollar implemented between 2013 and 2016 — such as those in California, Washington, and New York — reduced employment among low-skilled workers by just under 1.5%.
Here, the author provides evidence for earlier claims that "some jobs could be lost as a consequence of more ambitious jumps in the minimum wage" with a research study showing previous jumps lowered employment among low-skilled workers.
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Now, another batch of proposed wage hikes is headed for ballots in 2018
The author is using a aggregation of ballot initiatives done by another source, Ballotopedia, as evidence.
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"The places we can gather signatures the best are at the parades and the waiting lines at the outhouses," says Scott Nodland, a citizen activist leading the effort. "We expect that now that the snow just melted and temperatures hit the high 50s, we can begin to do something."
This quote from someone with direct experience of the North Dakota ballot initiative is personal experience backing the claim "it's been too cold to campaign."
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As the market for low-wage labor has gotten more concentrated, some economists have theorized that large employers haven't needed to bargain as hard for workers, so they've kept pay artificially depressed.
The author links to a previous piece of her own journalism as evidence of this claim. Whether or not it is good evidence would require looking through the evidence she uses in that source.
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"On the North Dakota job service site, there are 14,400 jobs available," Nodland, who has worked in many fields and refers to himself as an "entrepreneur," says. "And last year, there was a net loss of population in North Dakota. Obviously something is out of balance, and I'm suggesting it's wages."
This quote from a man in North Dakota who had personal experience as a resident of the state is used as evidence that the phenomenon of employers setting wages too low and not finding workers is happening in North Dakota.
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A national group called the Fairness Project, funded by a California healthcare union, is taking that message to several states this cycle with minimum wage campaigns as well as ballot initiatives
The author is using the Fairness Project's website listing its campaigns as documentary evidence that those campaigns exist.
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"Employers have the power to set wages," says Ben Zipperer, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute. "And when it's not completely determined by perfect competition, they are going to set wages too low, and they will always complain that they can't find enough workers at the going wage."
This expert's opinion is used as further evidence of the theory described in the previous paragraph.
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A recent paper from the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute points out that people often switch jobs in low-wage industries, so even a 3% loss in jobs could just mean that all workers end up with 3% fewer total hours — but if they were paid 10% more for those hours, everybody comes out ahead.
In the previous paragraph, the author said progressives are arguing that on the whole workers are better off with minimum wage hikes. This paper from a progressive think tank is a documentary example of such an argument.
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Another study out last month from two Census Bureau economists found that, based on previous minimum wage increases, a 10% hike would raise income growth for workers in the bottom quarter of wage earners by about 10% — even including any possible reduction in hours.
Here, the author uses a different research study to back claims that "the vast majority of workers who remain employed will enjoy higher pain" and "minimum wage hikes put more money in workers' pockets overall."
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www.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com
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Wal-Mart, the largest private employer in the U.S., announced the same month that it would increase starting pay
Documentary evidence from another news source that Walmart did this. Note: the evidence is hidden behind a subscription paywall, so you might want to find other evidence that corroborates this.
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On Jan. 1, 18 U.S. states raised their minimum wages.
The author relies on research organized by an organization that collects state-level minimum wage data, the National Council of State Legislatures.
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For more than a century, politicians have been passing minimum wage laws and opponents have warned of their hidden costs. The argument still rages from Washington to London to Berlin: Does a minimum wage lead to better lives or fewer jobs, more prosperity or less?
To support the author's arguments that the different sides on the minimum wage have argued about their benefits and costs, he links to an documentary example for each side: one from a conservative think tank and one from the Obama White House.
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