"Why Is New York Full Of Empty Stores?" That's the question posed by the New York Times editorial board in today's paper, as it worries about a "scourge of store closings that afflicts one section of the city after another, notably in Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn." The editorial offers few answers to its question and at least one bad solution in the form of a new "vacancy tax" for building owners […]

With Gov. Chris Christie leaving office early next year, New Jersey's $15 minimum wage backstop leaves as well. Twice during his tenure, Christie vetoed dramatic minimum wage increases passed by the state’s Democratic legislature, including $15 legislation last year. Gov.-elect Phil Murphy campaigned on a $15 minimum wage, and Democratic state Senate President Steve Sweeney has indicated that legislation will be forthcoming early next year. Perhaps […]

Tax reform is important. But is it worth sacrificing hundreds of thousands of jobs to get it done? South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham seems to think so. Bloomberg reported this afternoon that the Senator suggested linking tax reform to an increase in the federal minimum wage to "help draw Democratic support" for reform. The Senator should know better. In 2014, he helped stop legislation to raise the federal minimum wage by nearly 40 […]

25,000. That's the number of unemployed young adults in Florida who aren't enrolled in school, and don't have a high school diploma. Their unemployment rate currently averages 22 percent--more than five times the current four-percent state unemployment rate. Even at the state's current minimum wage of $8.10--rising to $8.25 at the start of 2018--these young adults are having difficulty finding employment. Should Florida pursue a $15 minimum […]

Big-box retailer Target announced last month that it will voluntarily raise its pay floor to $15 an hour by 2020. It’s the latest example of why a government wage mandate of this magnitude is unnecessary. Supporters of the labor union-backed campaign for a $15 minimum wage took credit for the retailer’s decision, but the company’s CEO offered a more self-interested rationale: Recruiting “top-quality” help to staff […]

It’s a solution in search of a problem. And it may be coming soon to a ballot box near you. The Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), a controversial advocacy group with a checkered past, announced this week that it’s collecting signatures for a ballot measure that would raise the state’s tipped minimum wage by an eye-popping 240 percent, while also raising the overall minimum wage to $12 […]