A ballot initiative to enact a $15 hourly minimum wage for many workers in a working-class Seattle suburb that houses the region's main international airport was leading on Tuesday, with proponents declaring victory in their fight for a livable wage.If this does pass, SeaTac is going to experience new levels of unemployment and the city certainly isn't going to see any new firms moving into the area. If a worker's marginal productivity is $10.00 an hour, firms just can't pay such a worker $15.00 an hour.
The measure would mandate that some 6,300 workers at Sea-Tac International Airport and nearby hotels, car rental agencies and parking lots receive a minimum hourly wage of $15, a rate more than double the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
[...]the measure was leading on Tuesday evening by 54 percent to 46 percent with 3,283 votes counted in the mail-in ballot.
But initiative opponents said it was too early to concede defeat in a city with 12,000 registered voters, with more results expected to trickle in over the next few days.
(ht Bryan T. Ripp)
This will be a great experiment. Hopefully the voters get what they deserve, good and hard a la H. L. Mencken....
ReplyDeleteActually this is not true because most jobs in SeaTac are at the airport, which is a sort of government monopoly. The minimum wage increase will be passed to the consumer as airport fees increases in airfare.
ReplyDeleteThere's not much alternative for consumers since the nearest airport for most flights would be 3-4 hours drive away at either Portland, OR or Vancouver, BC). You could fly out of Bellingham for some local flights, and it may get more popular, same thing that happened to Heathrow vs. other London area airports. There are many tech giants with deep pockets in Seattle and those flying for business will not bat an eye to spend a little extra rather than waste time driving to other airports.
However the benevolent socialists are already drooling over the prospects of extending this ordinance to the city of Seattle itself. Now that would be a different story, but I have faith this will not transpire---people here are mostly reasonable on fiscal issues, even though they identify as Democrats. e.g., WA is ranking really well on pension funding.
~~YL (I live in another suburb of Seattle)
"There are many tech giants with deep pockets in Seattle and those flying for business will not bat an eye to spend a little extra rather than waste time driving to other airports."
DeleteYou may be right, but obviously that money won't be there to be spent as it otherwise would have been (or saved/invested as it would have been).
Thanks for mentioning this! I live near the Seattle area, as well, and concur with your analysis here. There is effectively no competition to this airport, and the inevitable price increase is unlikely to deter customers to a significant extent due to no other available choices. However, there are many restaurants and hotels near the airport, and I am interested to find out what the impact on employment will be on those and other businesses that are found in the small suburb.
DeleteI agree that this will inevitably be used by the socialists that thrive in this area as ammunition for raising the minimum wage in other parts of the city and suburbs. I hope you are right, that it won't happen, but I think it is going to take a lot of convincing from people like you and I to show that this is the wrong course...
Aren't we experiencing run away price inflation now? Thought that is what Schiff said in his column the other day. $15 an hour in 2015 will be $5 an hour in 2013 dollars. So they are just reducing the pay cut with this legislation. Anyone noticed that gold is 1288 today? On its way down as predicted. Will be under 1200 by the end of the month. Still waiting for the stock market to crash. That was supposed to happen by the end of October.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping gold goes under 1000, you should sell.
DeleteRobert is leaning towards bullish and has been for several weeks ... certainly hasn't been bearish in many weeks
Delete"Still waiting for the stock market to crash. That was supposed to happen by the end of October."
DeleteNo one knows EXACTLY when.
Schiff said he thought inflation was below 9%... As far as gold goes, it is possible for things to be over and or under valued in the short run.
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