New York City's Empty Storefronts And The $15 Minimum Wage

[Right_in_Virginia]

New York City's Empty Storefronts And The $15 Minimum Wage
Forbes, Nov 20, 2017, Michael Saltsman

"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."

<snip>

What happened? For starters, the state of New York embarked on an unprecedented experiment in raising the minimum wage. At the start of 2016, the city's tipped minimum wage increased by 50 percent, and the minimum wage for fast food workers jumped by nearly 17 percent to $10.50. At the start of 2017, the wage floor rose higher to $12 an hour, and the minimum wage for all businesses in the city rose by 22 percent to $11 an hour.

By the end of 2018, the minimum wage in New York City for anyone with 11 or more employees will be $15 an hour--a 67 percent increase over 2015.


Read more:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelsaltsman/2017/11/20/new-york-citys-empty-storefronts-and-the-15-minimum-wage/#7a0e46c3101f

[Oceander]

Liberals are too damned stupid to understand that they pushed the minimum wage too high.  Now it’ll take at least several years of inflation to bring that back into line with economic reality (by which time, of course, the higher minimum wage will have the same real value as the old minimum, so the only thing liberals will have achieved is putting people out of work for several years and made the rest of us poorer with their increased inflation).

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Liberals are too damned stupid to understand that they pushed the minimum wage too high.  Now it’ll take at least several years of inflation to bring that back into line with economic reality (by which time, of course, the higher minimum wage will have the same real value as the old minimum, so the only thing liberals will have achieved is putting people out of work for several years and made the rest of us poorer with their increased inflation).

They were not stupid, but operating to plan.

One, they exploit class envy by trumpeting the higher wages they get.
Two, when the inevitable firing of employees occurs as they cannot be afforded, the least productive are thrown on the welfare roles.
Three, increasing people on welfare increases govt size, budget, and gets more people(which characteristically are the least productive) to consider their savior is the Democrat party.

[Joe Wooten]

They were not stupid, but operating to plan.

One, they exploit class envy by trumpeting the higher wages they get.
Two, when the inevitable firing of employees occurs as they cannot be afforded, the least productive are thrown on the welfare roles.
Three, increasing people on welfare increases govt size, budget, and gets more people(which characteristically are the least productive) to consider their savior is the Democrat party.

Until they finally run out of other people's money.......

[roamer_1]

Until they finally run out of other people's money.......

Yeah - Then they 'fix' it with what the article calls a 'vacancy tax' - A tax on vacant storefronts!  LOL!

[aligncare]

I don’t see how the increase in minimum wage has any tie to the increasing rents. Astronomical rents are what is shutting down businesses in Manhattan.

[roamer_1]

I don’t see how the increase in minimum wage has any tie to the increasing rents. Astronomical rents are what is shutting down businesses in Manhattan.

Well, astronomical wages sure can't be helping either - Especially restaurants which operate close to the bone, and where wages don't pass on to the customer all that well.

 

[Jazzhead]

Keep in mind as well that economically unviable minimum wages drive the demand for illegal labor.   Employers that aren't driven out of business will turn to under-the-table employees who don't pay taxes.   

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Keep in mind as well that economically unviable minimum wages drive the demand for illegal labor.   Employers that aren't driven out of business will turn to under-the-table employees who don't pay taxes.   

Item #4 that helps the Dems

[LMAO]

They were not stupid, but operating to plan.

One, they exploit class envy by trumpeting the higher wages they get.
Two, when the inevitable firing of employees occurs as they cannot be afforded, the least productive are thrown on the welfare roles.
Three, increasing people on welfare increases govt size, budget, and gets more people(which characteristically are the least productive) to consider their savior is the Democrat party.

 I personally know two people that are big supporters of the $15 minimum wage.  They really believe that this will force companies to raise their wages increase the stand of the living of these people. I ask them what  economic decisions when they make if they were buying a particular product and the price of that product doubled? Their reply was
they would seek a different product that was cheaper or quit buying that product.

Liberals would be cute and entertaining if their ideas weren’t so dangerous

[Sanguine]

Until they finally run out of other people's money.......

They ran out of other people's money a long time ago.  They just keep printing more.

[aligncare]

I don’t see how the increase in minimum wage has any tie to the increasing rents. Astronomical rents are what is shutting down businesses in Manhattan.

I rushed through my thought above, what I was trying to point out in the case of NYC is that a minimum wage increase, as bad as that is, pales compared to the impact on profitability of the astronomical rents hitting storefront businesses today in Manhattan. Some businesses that could least afford it have seen their rent go from $500 a day a few years ago, to $2000 a day today (neighborhoods become trendy and rents suddenly go up).

Some formerly street level restaurants have even taken to moving to second or third floor locations for the lower rents.

[Jazzhead]

I rushed through my thought above, what I was trying to point out in the case of NYC is that a minimum wage increase, as bad as that is, pales compared to the impact on profitability of the astronomical rents hitting storefront businesses today in Manhattan. Some businesses that could least afford it have seen their rent go from $500 a day a few years ago, to $2000 a day today (neighborhoods become trendy and rents suddenly go up).

Some formerly street level restaurants have even taken to moving to second or third floor locations for the lower rents.

At least in midtown Manhattan around Madison Ave.,  according to today's NYPost,  retail rents have been crashing lately - a 27% drop from 2014 and a 7% drop from this spring in "highest average rents" for the area.