Tag: Minimum wage

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Government Wage Mandates Are Bad for New Jersey’s Economy

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By Tony Russo, CIANJ President

Ridgewood NJ, There has been a lot of discussion recently on raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour.  Governor Murphy would like to see $15 an hour this year but the Legislature introduced a bill which would phase in the increase over several years.  The reason given for increasing the minimum wage is the high cost of living in New Jersey.

What is missing from the current discussion are the reasons why New Jersey has such a high cost of living. The major reasons for such a high cost of living are the taxes and fees paid by New Jersey’s residents and businesses.  Property taxes, sales taxes, fuel taxes, income taxes, the corporate business tax — New Jersey is a heavily taxed state.   Also absent from the discussion is why $15 an hour would somehow make New Jersey affordable.

Government needs to appreciate that most private sector jobs in New Jersey are with small businesses.  These business owners take on risks daily as competition is fierce. Most work hard to make ends meet but unfortunately some do not survive.

Employees are a business’ number one resource and keeping good talent is a top priority.  An hourly wage is just one part of how a business compensates employees.  Many offer fringe benefits including paid time off, healthcare insurance, 401(k) contributions, short- and long-term disability, bonuses and life insurance.  When the Legislature focuses on only the hourly rate and not the total compensation paid, it is not reflective of the total amount spent by employers.

More importantly, Trenton lawmakers should not look toward the private sector to make New Jersey affordable but rather look inward to reduce the size of government and make New Jersey a business-friendly State.  New investment will create new jobs, more competition and innovation which in turn will improve the quality of life of residents as well as increasing the coffers of the state government. This would reduce the current pressure on New Jersey’s existing businesses.

A government wage mandate on the private sector is the wrong approach and will only lead to higher prices and job losses, ultimately hurting the very people they are trying to help.  Finally, New Jersey voters already weighed in on this matter in 2013 when they approved an amendment to the state constitution tying any increases to the minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index or CPI.By Tony Russo, CIANJ President

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Most DC wage-hike backers don’t even pay their interns

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Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) all do not pay interns but support the minimum wage photo of Cory Booker by Boyd Loving 

By Jonathon Trugman

August 12, 2017 | 10:53pm

One of the most valuable things a college student can do is complement his or her education with a summer internship.

Across America, kids from all schools and backgrounds compete for these experiences and résumé-building opportunities.

For many, it is their first real job and a chance make a little money. It could also be their first experience in a professional work environment.

You wouldn’t know it, but one of the least rewarding places to intern over the summer is on Capitol Hill.

https://nypost.com/2017/08/12/most-dc-wage-hike-backers-dont-even-pay-their-interns/

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Wisniewski Blasts Murphy for Not Paying Canvassers $15 Per Hour

Phill Murphy -Sara Medina del Castillo

photo Phil Murphy

By Alyana Alfaro • 05/23/17 5:44pm

John Wisniewski. Kevin B. Sanders for Observer

Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Phil Murphy wants to raise New Jersey’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, but his canvassers are working for $12.50, Assemblyman John Wisniewski said Tuesday, rolling out a new line of attack as the June 6 primary nears.

Wisniewski, a rival candidate for the Democratic nomination, caught the $2.50 discrepancy in Murphy’s campaign reports filed with the state Election Law Enforcement Commission and cut a new web ad accusing Murphy of hypocrisy. He called on Murphy to give his canvassers $45,000 in back pay and a salary hike.

https://observer.com/2017/05/wisniewski-murphy-canvassing/?utm_campaign=new-jersey-politics&utm_content=2017-24-05-9684462&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=channel-new-jersey-politics-distribution

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Minimum Wage Increases Kick In; Start Watching for Winners and Losers

fast food self serviice

Some businesses can’t handle the increased burdens.

Scott Shackford|Jan. 4, 2017 11:30 am

David Joles/TNS/Newscom2017 ushered in minimum wage increases in 19 states, some more reasonable than others, and some of which are just the start of a series of massive jumps.

There will undoubtedly be “winners” and “losers” in these government-ordered increases, those who see actual raises vs. those who find jobs harder and harder to come by. And it’s going to be a challenge to evaluate what truly happened. We are seeing increased automation of low-level low-skilled service jobs. Jacking up the minimum wage is going to increase the speed by which it happens, but it would be foolish to think it wouldn’t eventually come regardless.

Houman Salem, who owns a small fashion house in the San Fernando Valley out in Los Angeles, took to the op-ed pages of the Los Angeles Times to explain why he’s packing up and moving out of California. Los Angeles famously decided to eventually jack up its minimum wages to $15 per hour and the entire state followed suit.

Salem’s commentary is particularly interesting because he writes about wages as a piece of a larger regulatory burden that affects his ability to do business. He explains that the minimum wage increase is the straw that broke the camel’s back because of how difficult California makes it to operate a business:

https://reason.com/blog/2017/01/04/minimum-wage-increases-kick-in-start-wat

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8 New Jersey Law Changes for 2017 that May Impact You

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January 3,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

 Ridgewood NJ, the new year ushers in some changes in New Jersey laws that might affect you. From a slight bump in the minimum wage, and an opportunity for adopted people to obtain their original birth certificates. Bergen residents and retirees will be most affected by a phasing out the estate tax and expanding tax deductions on retirement income which help to soften the state’s anti-business and anti-work reputation and may even begin to stem the flight of people out of the state.

The big news for most is the 23-cent per-gallon rise in the gasoline tax that took effect on Nov. 1 to replenish a depleted Transportation Trust Fund, known by some critics as the Transportation Slush Fund.

Here are eight major changes for 2017:

1. Phasing out the estate tax

About 3,500 estates, worth at least $675,000, are subject to the estate tax each year. But starting this month, the state will impose the tax on estates worth $2 million or more. The entire tax would end after Jan. 1, 2018.

2. Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit

The Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income workers get a boost from 30 percent of the federal level to 35 percent. The expansion will benefit about 600,000 New Jerseyans, who will pocket about $200 more from the tax return, Whiten said.

Eligibility depends on income and number of qualifying children. The income limit is about $14,800 for a single, childless adult, and $53,000 for a married couple with three or more children.

3. Reducing the sales tax

The sales tax will decrease from 7 percent to 6.875 percent on Jan. 1, and then from 6.875 percent to 6.625 percent on Jan. 1, 2018. Legislative leaders said Christie was adamant about enacting a sales tax cut when he agreed to raise the gas tax but it may not be noticed by most consumers unless you are making a major purchase.

4. Expanding tax deduction for retirees

A married couple filing their taxes jointly can currently exclude their first $20,000 in retirement income from state income taxes. But beginning in 2017 and phased in over four years, that amount will ultimately increase to $100,000 for joint filers, $75,000 for individuals and $50,000 for married couples.

5. Tax deduction for veterans

The tax deal introduced a $3,000 tax deduction for veterans. The law defines veterans as those who are “honorable discharged or released under honorable circumstances from active duty in the Armed Forces of the United states, a reserve component thereof, or the National Guard of New Jersey in a federal active duty status.”

6. Opening birth certificates sealed at adoption

The state Health Department will begin fulfilling requests from adopted people to obtain their original birth certificates containing information about their parents.

Birth parents could have requested to have their named blacked-out if they filed a redaction form before Dec. 31. At any time, they may submit a contact preference form stating whether they wish to have no contact with their child, contact through an intermediary, or unfettered contact. Birth parents who request no contact must also must complete a family history form seeking medical, cultural and social history information about the birth parent.

More information about the law is available on the health department’s website, or by calling 866-649-8726.

7. Eliminating bail for some non-violent offenders

One in 12 defendants remains in jail because a bail of $2,500 is too high.

Starting in January, fewer people who commit minor offenses will be held on bail and detained. And if a person is held in jail, prosecutors will have 90 days to seek an indictment from a grand jury, and must bring a person to trial with 120 days.

8. Raising the minimum wage, nominally

New Jersey’s minimum wage will go up six cents on Jan. 1 to $8.44 an hour, according to the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

It will be New Jerseyans’ first increase since January 2015, when it rose from $8.25 an hour to the current $8.38. The minimum wage did not increase this year because there was no rise in the state’s cost of living.

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Readers ask did Councilman Ramon Hache suggest that because most employees in the CBD make minimum wage the Village of Ridgewood should give those employees free parking?

Ridegwood parking Town garage 12:10 5 24 2016

Did you hear Councilman Ramon Hache suggest that because most employees in the CBD make minimum wage the Village of Ridgewood should give those employees free parking. So let me understand this Councilman because the employers only pay their employees minimum wage it now becomes the Village taxpayers responsible to supplement there income by giving them free parking. How are you going to know if they are indeed being paid minimum wage Councilman ask for their w 2 before you give them free parking ?

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ROBOT WORKERS ARE SHOWING UP IN MALLS, HOTELS, AND PARKING LOTS

The Robot from Lost In Space

By Bruce Brown — June 11, 2016

If you have yet to see a robot patrolling a parking lot or moving along the sidewalk, don’t feel left out. Security, surveillance, hospitality, and delivery robots aren’t a common sight, but it won’t be long before they are. Robots are already on the job providing extra service and security in a growing variety and number of locations, according to the  MIT Technology Review.

Silicon Valley startup Knightscope, Inc. has two mobile surveillance and security robots, called the K3 and K5. The company refers to them as Autonomous Data Machines, or ADMs, because as the robots make their rounds, they can either follow prescribed paths or just wander within a determined area. While on the move, the robots continuously collect and transmit more than 90 terabytes of data per year.

Read more: https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/mit-robots-stores-hotels-parking-lots/#ixzz4BKgTZY2g

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In $15 Minimum Wage Debate, Assembly Republicans Warn of Unintended Consequences

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As lawmakers consider a Democratically sponsored bill to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour in as soon as five years, state Republicans are pointing to the wage hike’s potential impact to New Jersey’s already strained budget. In his testimony at the Senate Labor Committee hearing where that bill advanced Monday, Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon predicted that healthcare providers who receive state funding would turn to the state to offset the cost. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more

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Taxpayers Pay through the Nose for the Minimum Wage

CASHIERS WORK AT THE CHECKOUT LANES OF A WALMART STORE IN THE PORTER RANCH SECTION OF LOS ANGELES

A Billion Dollar Stool to Reach the Bottom Rung of the Job Ladder

Adam Millsap

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

In February, the Obama administration proposed a “First Job” initiative. The main goal of the aptly titled initiative is to help unemployed young people obtain their first job by spending $5.5 billion on grants, training, and direct wages. Unfortunately – but unsurprisingly – the press release failed to acknowledge the most significant factor impeding employment in this age group: the minimum wage.

Everyone knows that a first job is a vital step in a young person’s development. Research has shown that work experience at a young age teaches positive work habits, time management, perseverance, and improves self-confidence. Increases in teenage employment also reduce the rate of violent crime. Yet despite these well-known benefits, the US maintains a minimum wage policy that makes it very difficult for all but the most productive teenagers to find a job.

When the minimum wage was discussed in the late 19th and early 20th century it was in the context of preventing the least skilled, most “undesirable” workers from finding a job, with the goal of eradicating the unemployable people. For the next 80-plus years it was common knowledge that a minimum wage would reduce employment among the least-skilled workers. The only debate was about whether such a reduction was desirable from society’s perspective, as many of the appalling eugenicists of the time contended.

As late as 1987, the New York Times editorial staff recommended a minimum wage of $0 because of its negative effects on employment. The Times argued that the minimum wage was an ineffective anti-poverty tool whose employment costs outweighed any benefits from higher wages.

https://fee.org/articles/taxpayers-pay-through-the-nose-for-the-minimum-wage/

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Carl’s Jr. CEO wants to try automated restaurant where customers ‘never see a person’

robot forbidden planet

POSTED 4:57 PM, MARCH 17, 2016, BY KFOR-TV & K. QUERRY

NEW YORK – A CEO of a fast-food company is causing a stir on social media after claiming that he wants to create a fully automated restaurant.

“We could have a restaurant that’s focused on all-natural products and is much like an Eatsa, where you order on a kiosk, you pay with a credit or debit card, your order pops up, and you never see a person,” Carl’s Jr. CEO Andy Puzder told Business Insider.

Puzder says the automated restaurant would be cheaper since he wouldn’t have to worry about rising minimum wage.

https://kfor.com/2016/03/17/carls-jr-ceo-wants-to-try-automated-restaurant-where-customers-never-see-a-person/

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Minimum Wage Backfire

McDonald's Automated Ordering System Kiosk

McDonald’s profits implode seemingly overnight plunging 30%. Next step? Service to be automated.

“Amid a historically slow economic recovery, 1970s labor-participation rates and stagnant middle-class incomes, we understand that people are frustrated. Harder to understand is how so many of our media brethren have been persuaded that suddenly it’s the job of America’s burger joints to provide everyone with good pay and benefits. The result of their agitation will be more jobs for machines and fewer for the least skilled workers.” Joe Killian

Minimum Wage Backfire

McDonald’s moves to automate orders to reduce worker costs.

Updated Oct. 22, 2014 2:26 p.m. ET

If there’s a silver lining for McDonald’s in Tuesday’s dreadful earnings report, it is that perhaps union activists will begin to understand that the fast-food chain cannot solve the problems of theObama economy. The world’s largest restaurant company reported a 30% decline in quarterly profits on a 5% drop in revenues. Problems under the golden arches were global—sales were weak in China, Europe and the United States.

So even one of the world’s most ubiquitous consumer brands cannot print money at its pleasure. This may be news to liberal pressure groups that have lately been demanding that government order the chain known for cheap food to somehow pay higher wages.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/minimum-wage-backfire-1413934569

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Will Minimum Wage Protesters Order Fries From Their Burger-Flipping Robot Replacements?

HamburgerMomentumMachines

Pricing yourself out of the market is not so smart
J.D. Tuccille|Apr. 20, 2015 2:04 pm

The Momentum Machines website is low-key right now, but that may have something to do with high-profile arguments in the press and protests in the streets demanding that fast-food chains pay workers $15 an hour to do the job the company’s robots are designed to fill. Even before those placard-wielders decided to raise their costs in terms of dollars and grief, the San Francisco-based start-up announced that they were obsolete.

Momentum Machines’ old, boastier website claimed:

Fast food doesn’t have to have a negative connotation anymore. With our technology, a restaurant can offer gourmet quality burgers at fast food prices.

Our alpha machine replaces all of the hamburger line cooks in a restaurant.

It does everything employees can do except better:

*it slices toppings like tomatoes and pickles only immediately before it places the slice onto your burger, giving you the freshest burger possible.

*our next revision will offer custom meat grinds for every single customer. Want a patty with 1/3 pork and 2/3 bison ground after you place your order? No problem.

*Also, our next revision will use gourmet cooking techniques never before used in a fast food restaurant, giving the patty the perfect char but keeping in all the juices.

*it’s more consistent, more sanitary, and can produce ~360 hamburgers per hour.

The labor savings allow a restaurant to spend approximately twice as much on high quality ingredients and the gourmet cooking techniques make the ingredients taste that much better.

https://reason.com/blog/2015/04/20/will-minimum-wage-protesters-order-fries

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How an ‘expensive’ N.J. community might handle town-by-town minimum wage proposal

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McDonalds-Machines

How an ‘expensive’ N.J. community might handle town-by-town minimum wage proposal

MONTCLAIR — A township official says an Assembly proposal that would allow municipalities in New Jersey to set their own minimum wages would be plausible, and likely passable, in Montclair. But, he says he’s not convinced that it’s the most effective way to increase the minimum wage in New Jersey. (Mazolla/NJ.com)

https://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2015/03/how_an_expensive_nj_community_might_handle_town-by.html#incart_river

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Why welfare, minimum wage make it harder for poor Americans to succeed

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Why welfare, minimum wage make it harder for poor Americans to succeed

By John Stossel

Published October 08, 2014
FoxNews.com

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared “War on Poverty.” It sounded great to me.

I was taught at Princeton, “We’re a rich country. All we have to do is tax the rich, and then use that money to create programs that will lift the poor out of poverty.” Government created job-training programs for the strong and expanded social security for the weak.

It seemed to work. The poverty rate dropped from 17 percent to 12 percent in the programs’ first decade. Unfortunately, few people noticed that during the half-decade before the “War,” the rate dropped from 22 percent to 17 percent. Without big government, Americans were already lifting themselves out of poverty!

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/10/08/why-welfare-mimimum-wage-make-it-harder-for-poor-americans-to-succeed/

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Robots mow your lawn, clean your floor

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Robots mow your lawn, clean your floor

Deborah Porterfield, Special for USA Today12:08 p.m. EDT September 16, 2014

The hammock looks inviting but your lawn needs to be mowed. A Robomow robotic mower provides a tempting solution. Powered by a rechargeable battery, the mower trims your lawn while you nap in the sun. Before you can put the mower to work, you’ll have to set up the mowing perimeters with the included perimeter wire and plastic pegs. This lets the mower know where to mow and — more important — where not to mow. When the mower senses an obstacle, the blades will stop moving and the mower will change course. Forgetful? You can set the mower to do its job at preset times and days. The RC306, a mower that can handle a 6,500-square-foot lawn, costs about $1,100. The RM200, a basic model that can handle a 2,200-square foot lawn, costs about $800. Other models are available.www.robomow.com

Vacuum and mop at the same time

Should you sweep or mop? You can set up Moneual’s Hybrid Robot Vacuum Cleaner to do both. Using the remote control, you can direct the RYDIS H68 Pro to vacuum a room’s floor and then have it scrub the floor with water and cleanser placed in its tank. The sparkling results will make your home ready for drop-in guests. The robotic cleaner also can vacuum without mopping and vice versa. Either way, its smart vision mapping sensors can track down — and clean — dirty areas that are often overlooked. It costs about $500.

www.moneualusa.com

https://www.app.com/story/money/industries/technology/2014/09/15/robots-mow-lawn-clean-floor/15675897/