How much more would you pay for food, to raise minimum wage?

Seems to me raising the minimum wage is a hot topic in the US. Linked to that is the current debate about restaurants having difficulty hiring - supposedly because workers would rather stay home and collect benefits. 

Now, one argument against raising the minimum wage is that it would increase food cost, thus reducing business and eventually killing the restaurant. 

But let’s look at the numbers. Labour makes up 20-30% of the cost of running a food business. Since (as I understand the custom is to tip 15%) that works out to a potential increase in salary by 45-75% if tips were incorporated into the bill. 

The math is something like this, assuming labour is 20% of the bill: 
MW x 1/5 = 15% 

The price of food would not change materially for an increase of up to 75% of wages. Eliminate tipping and restaurants could theoretically raise hourly wages up to $12.70 (from $7.25) tomorrow. The barriers of course would be psychological — while the amount paid is the same, the feeling of being charged more would still deter people. 

Of course as salary goes up the percentage that wages form of food costs will rise. So the math is rudimentary and really as a starting point for discussion. 

What are your thoughts?

On a side note, in Singapore we have no minimum wage. so it’s not really any better. It’s a debate here as well, with a proportion of people living hand to mouth in a very expensive city. 

https://www.jeraldinephneah.com/minimum-wage-singapore

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

Image
Here’s what Russia’s 2020 disinformation operations look like, according to two experts on social media and propaganda. By   DARREN LINVILL   &   PATRICK WARREN Internet trolls don’t troll. Not the professionals at least. Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry. They don’t lack basic English language skills. They certainly aren’t  “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,”  as the president once put it. Your stereotypical trolls do exist on social media, but the amateurs aren’t a threat to Western democracy. Professional trolls, on the other hand, are the tip of the spear in the new digital, ideological battleground. To combat the threat they pose, we must first understand them — and take them seriously. MORE: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/russia-troll-2020-election-interference-twitter-916482/ P...
Read more

The Nightmare Scenario That Keeps Election Lawyers Up At Night -- And Could Hand Trump A Second Term

Image
The Nightmare Scenario That Keeps Election Lawyers Up At Night -- And Could Hand Trump A Second Term   (Photo: Photos: Getty Images) Americans will almost certainly go to bed on Nov. 3 without knowing who won the presidential election. Since millions of people will vote by mail, constraints on time and resources will slow ballot counting into potentially a weeks-long process. Voting patterns suggest it’s likely that President  Donald Trump  could end Election Day in the lead in certain key states, only to be overtaken by Democratic opponent  Joe Biden  when more votes are tallied.  This could create a nightmare scenario during the three months stretching from Election Day to the Jan. 20 inauguration: a battle on the state and congressional level over who is the legitimate winner. This could include Congress reconvening on Jan. 6, presided over by Vice President  Mike Pence , with no consensus over its potential role in choosing the next president. This...
Read more

When Life Hands You Lemons

Image
 It's like this folks: sometimes your mind goes blank. Happens more than usual with me of course. Take this forum for instance. I wanted to post something today and couldn't think of a topic. At least not a non-sexual one and we know sexual ones lately have been frowned upon.  Then along comes one of our regulars and complains about something. Well, they might not say it was a complaint, just an observation, but it was a complaint. A minor one. It has something to do about being able to make something out of nothing. Sort of like me this morning, how to make a thread out of an empty head? But they (notice I am using the correct pronoun, not saying he or she), by what they said got me thinking. What I thought was: Not sure if that is the actual saying, if I remember correctly, I remember the saying going something like this: Umm, no, I don't think the saying I am thinking of goes that way either, maybe ONE of you good folks can remind me how the saying goes. Either way, when...
Read more