Quote:
Originally Posted by Resolute 14
Part of that is the result of the fact that nobody should actually be satisfied making minimum wage. Ultimately though, these kiosks both save money and eliminate the need for a not insignificant percentage of minimum wage workers. My purpose in posting it though was to note that, while sectors like front end retail cannot be outsourced to Asia, many (if not most) minimum wage jobs are very much replaceable. So the impacts on employment of a look before you leap raise to $15 more dangerous than Harry Lime was implying.
In the case of fast food, the stores have typically struggled to retain these employees even at $14+/hr due to the previously hot market for jobs. The slowing economy will ease that burden on such businesses for now as simple supply and demand takes its toll on new hires, but for a business like McDonalds, the decision here is pretty easy. If they can't hire enough employees at a rate that approaches Notley's dream minimum wage as it is, then eliminating the entry level worker and replacing two or three jobs with one machine is the logical step forward - irregardless of what the minimum wage actually is set at.
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So with the elimination of minimum wage workers, and having a smaller staff size with employees probably making closer to the $15/hr minimum standard (if not that already), wouldn't the business be making money even with the wage increase? It's a classic case of automation; more of the revenue ratio is budgeted for automation, but they spend less doing business on the whole (at least in theory). Then we have a handful of minimum wage workers who now have to fill minimum wage gaps elsewhere.