When Seattle Raised Minimum Wage to $15, They Had No Idea This Would Happen

When Seattle Raised Minimum Wage to $15, They Had No Idea This Would Happen
"The liberal stronghold of Seattle is quickly finding itself in a situation that they may want to rethink, concerning a recent ordinance to skyrocket the minimum wage to a staggering $15 per hour.

...Business owners like Kathrina Tugadi of Seattle’s El Norte Lounge have already made plans, including not hiring musicians or anything that doesn’t directly contribute to the bottom line – even saying that the business will likely not survive the wage hike when it goes into full effect.

Her business is one of many who operate on slim margins and can barely afford to hire new workers at the existing minimum wage — let alone $15 per hour.

The ordinance will quickly end in massive job loss and hours cut across the city, leaving people who once made $8 an hour with a new wage of $0 per hour.

Kshama Sawant, the ultra-liberal, anti-business council member who helped pass the new ordinance claims that local businesses wouldn’t be hurt by the new requirements and that there should be “no unintended consequences.” (H/T ViralBuzz)
...Sawant also claimed that any extra costs to employers could come out of their “extravagant profits,” which is an extreme stretch, as most of the businesses affected operate on the slimmest of margins — somewhere in the 4-7% range.
A survey company was hired by the left-leaning Seattle and they concluded that 42% of employers in the area were “very likely” to reduce the number of employees per shift and 44% were “very likely” to reduce employee hours in an attempt to survive the massive labor cost increases...