{"id":891,"date":"2015-04-06T15:54:57","date_gmt":"2015-04-06T19:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jparnell.com\/blog\/?p=891"},"modified":"2015-04-06T15:54:57","modified_gmt":"2015-04-06T19:54:57","slug":"mcdonalds-joins-the-fray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/?p=891","title":{"rendered":"McDonald’s Joins the Fray"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another major corporation has joined Wal-Mart, Target and others in hiking its wages. Effective July 1, employees at non-franchised McDonald\u2019s will receive hourly wages at least $1 above the local minimum wage. While this increase will only effect those not already<\/em> earning $1 more than the minimum and it only affects<\/em> those at company-owned stores\u2014about 10% of all stores\u2014it reflects a rising sentiment that increasing wages can be a good business decision. Of course, it\u2019s not surprising that critics are continuing to clamor for more:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/money.cnn.com\/2015\/04\/02\/news\/companies\/mcdonalds-workers-pay\/index.html<\/a><\/p>\n

The unprecedented changes we\u2019re seeing in companies like Wal-Mart and McDonald\u2019s is evidence that markets are capable to driving wages up. With Republican majorities in the House and Senate, there is little threat of a higher minimum wage at the national level. Yet, companies are evaluating shifts in the labor market and making their own decisions to pay more. Government action was not required, which brings me to deeper point.<\/p>\n

Leftists argue that when left alone, companies will always drive wages down to the lowest possible level. In fact, I heard one commentator argue, \u201ccorporate America needs to learn that hiring people at rock bottom wages isn\u2019t the best way to run a business.\u201d She assumes\u2014like Marx\u2014that workers are powerless and have no choice in the matter. Big companies set the wages and benefits, and the rest of us take it or leave it. This is demonstrably false; just consider the high turnover rates in fast-food. Moreover, with few exceptions, corporate America already understands employment realities quite well.<\/p>\n

From a cost standpoint, hiring the cheapest workers you can find may not be the most economical way to run your business. Better workers\u2014even in unskilled categories\u2014are more likely to show up on time, are less likely to quit, and tend to make fewer mistakes on the job. Paying a few dollars per hour more for these workers is often worth the investment. Savvy employers try to find the sweet spot where they reward employees just enough to retain the good ones.<\/p>\n

So why aren\u2019t more fast-food restaurants paying more in order to get better cooks and cashiers? Some are, but the truth is that promising fast-food employees are either promoted or they eventually leave the industry for better job opportunities elsewhere. Most talented workers see burger flipping as a part-time or a temporary job while they build a track record or train for something better. In this way, companies like McDonald\u2019s are providing sorely needed training to entry-level workers.<\/p>\n

Companies like McDonald\u2019s shouldn\u2019t be castigated because they don\u2019t offer middle class wages. They should be celebrated because they provide initial job training and experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another major corporation has joined Wal-Mart, Target and others in hiking its wages. Effective July 1, employees at non-franchised McDonald\u2019s will receive hourly wages at least $1 above the local minimum wage. While this increase will only effect those not already earning $1 more than the minimum and it only affects those at company-owned stores\u2014about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}