The Washington Post has an interesting piece this morning about how staff-strapped businesses in a number of markets found that they could attract workers by raising their own minimum wages to $15 an hour.
The Post writes that "across the country, businesses in sectors such as food service and manufacturing that are trying to staff up have been reporting an obstacle to their success — a scarcity of workers interested in applying for low-wage positions.
"The issue has raised concerns about the strength of the country’s recovery as coronavirus cases abate, with the economy still down more than 7.5 million jobs compared with before the pandemic.
"Republicans have blamed enhanced unemployment benefits for the shortage; Democrats and most labor economists say the issue is the result of a complicated mix of factors, including many schools having yet to fully reopen, lingering concerns about workplace safety and other ways the workforce has shifted during the pandemic."
But, when a number of businesses went to $15 an hour, they found that, in the words of one owner, "“It was like a dam broke."
You can read the piece here.
