The minimum wage is once again in the news. It seems that fast food industry workers in fifty U.S. cities went on strike for higher wages. One particular paragraph in a NBC News article caught my attention:
That paragraph seems to support Labor Secretary Thomas Perez's contention that the minimum wage needs to be raised. From a political perspective, Perez, political hack that he is, is correct. But only from a political perspective. There are (at least) two economic reality problems that, upon further reflection, become apparent, both of which NBC and Perez ignore: the (so-called) Great Recession and its consequences, and the fact that the fast food industry now hires an increasing number of people who have (at least) some college education.
The strike comes as a growing number of minimum wage fast food workers are not teenagers, but adults trying to support families, particularly since the Great Recession. Only 16 percent of fast food industry jobs now go to teens, down from 25 percent a decade ago. More than 42 percent of restaurant and fast-food employees over the age of 25 have at least some college education, including 753,000 with a bachelor's degree or higher, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That paragraph seems to support Labor Secretary Thomas Perez's contention that the minimum wage needs to be raised. From a political perspective, Perez, political hack that he is, is correct. But only from a political perspective. There are (at least) two economic reality problems that, upon further reflection, become apparent, both of which NBC and Perez ignore: the (so-called) Great Recession and its consequences, and the fact that the fast food industry now hires an increasing number of people who have (at least) some college education.
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