The ‘minimum wage’ is rising without Trenton’s interference. | Rooney

By Matt Rooney
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New Jersey’s minimum wage just hit $11 per hour, Save Jerseyans, and will reach $15 in 2024 pursuant to last year’s new law. Small businesses are going to feel the pinch. Their employees will get the worst of it, losing hours and, in some cases, their positions. Plenty of big box store and fast food chain workers have already been replaced by robots.

Something I’ve noticed? And I’m sure you have, too, besides the onslaught of automated checkout lines? Companies are raising their wages independent of the minimum wage law; some, in fact, are going well above it. I visited a South Jersey Target over the weekend (see above) and noticed a giant, in-you-face banner on the store’s exterior announcing a $13 per hour minimum wage. 

Target has made a big deal out of working towards a $15 minimum wage at all of its locations nation-wide.

Yes, it’s good public relations considering their young, professional female consumer base is a bit #wokier than the general population.

But we need to be adults about this: companies don’t do “the right thing” just for the hell of it. They do the smart thing. For PR. Also because said company’s executives clearly concluded they needed to pay $13+ per hour to attract the workers it needs to be successful.

Businesses do and should make that decision all the time. Hacks in a state house annex should butt out and let the economy work its magic. In fact, a competitive, healthy economy is the ultimate catalyst for wage growth (not legislative mandates). This isn’t a thought experiment: we watched American workers’ wages climb steadily and consistently in 2019 and robust growth is expected in 2020 due to a host of factors led by a tight labor market at the lower end of the income-earning spectrum. Recent growth comes after years of Obama-era stagnation.

So why is New Jersey mandating what’s already happening organically?

“The push for new wage mandates comes at a puzzling time: We are in the midst of a record economic expansion in which workers in lower-wage jobs are seeing their wages grow faster than many high-wage workers.” Heritage Foundation Policy Analyst Adam Michel opined back in August.

“Employers are competing for labor. That puts workers in the driver’s seat, allowing them to demand higher wages and better benefits,” Michel added.

Correct. But cynical, selfish, narrow-minded base politics is the answer to the puzzle.

What’s good for the Democrat Party is bad for America. Again, the proximate problem lies with businesses whose business model CANNOT absorb $11, $13, or $15+ per hour will counter-answer by handing out fewer shifts. Good on Target if it makes sense for Target. What about the boardwalk bodega? The store with tight margins and a large number of untrained employees? The teenage-staffed storefront? We’ve all seen the studies. It’s irrefutable.

What would be refreshing for a change of pace is a governor or legislator whose starting point is “hey, how can I help the businesses in my state hire more people for good money” instead of “I’m going to pass this one-size fits all bill, enforcing my idea of what should be on all businesses.”

It’s been a long time since “refreshing” and Trenton appeared in the same sentence.

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8405 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.