{"id":564744,"date":"2021-06-15T15:52:16","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T19:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=564744"},"modified":"2021-06-15T15:52:19","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T19:52:19","slug":"large-businesses-are-using-technology-to-dodge-minimum-wage-hikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/large-businesses-are-using-technology-to-dodge-minimum-wage-hikes\/","title":{"rendered":"Large Businesses Are Using Technology To Dodge Minimum Wage Hikes"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flarge-businesses-are-using-technology-to-dodge-minimum-wage-hikes%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=564744&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-56857245.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>Since the inauguration of President Biden, lawmakers \u2014 both Democratic and Republican \u2014 have introduced a swath of proposals to increase the minimum wage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Beyond Democrats\u2019 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/video-of-how-kyrsten-sinema-voted-against-15-minimum-wage-goes-viral-leftists-erupt-in-anger\"><span>attempts<\/span><\/a><span> to include a provision in the American Rescue Plan to boost the minimum wage, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/sanders-suggests-removing-tax-deductions-for-large-companies-that-dont-pay-at-least-15-an-hour\"><span>introduced<\/span><\/a><span> \u201can amendment to take tax deductions away from large, profitable corporations that don\u2019t pay workers at least $15 an hour.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In February, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/hawley-proposes-15-minimum-wage-for-billion-dollar-companies\"><span>proposed<\/span><\/a><span> a minimum wage hike for companies that make over $1 billion in revenue: \u201cMega-corporations can afford to pay their workers $15 an hour, and it\u2019s long past time they do so, but this should not come at the expense of small businesses already struggling to make it.\u201d Meanwhile, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/the-romney-cotton-minimum-wage-plan-is-anti-conservative-and-embraces-the-logic-of-the-left\"><span>suggested<\/span><\/a><span> raising the minimum wage to $10 per hour by 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Amid pressure from lawmakers and activists, many large companies are promising to boost wages for their employees.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For one, Amazon <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aboutamazon.com\/news\/operations\/a-message-from-darcie-henry-amazon-vp-of-people-experience-and-technology-worldwide-consumer\"><span>announced<\/span><\/a><span> in April that it would increase wages by \u201cat least 50 cents and $3 an hour\u201d for more that half a million employees. The e-commerce giant touted the move as an addition to its \u201calready industry-leading starting wage of at least $15 an hour and the more than $2.5 billion that we invested last year in additional bonuses and incentives for front-line teams.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For another, McDonald\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/corporate.mcdonalds.com\/corpmcd\/en-us\/our-stories\/article\/.mcopco-wage-raise.html\"><span>revealed<\/span><\/a><span> in May that it will boost \u201chourly wages for more than 36,500 hardworking employees at McDonald\u2019s-owned restaurants by an average of 10 percent.\u201d The entry-level rate for crew members will rise to \u201cat least $11 \u2013 $17 an hour\u201d \u2014 an action that furthers the chain\u2019s commitment to \u201coffering one of the leading pay and benefits packages in the industry.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Even as they posture a willingness to benefit their employees through competitive wages, both firms are simultaneously testing technologies that would replace low-skilled staff.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Two months after its wage hike, Amazon <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/in-another-blow-to-minimum-wage-amazon-to-bring-cashierless-checkout-tech-to-full-size-grocery-store\"><span>opened<\/span><\/a><span> a store featuring \u201ccashierless checkout technology\u201d in Washington state. As customers who visit the Amazon Fresh store \u201cJust Walk Out\u201d with their items, the building\u2019s technology will automatically track the products and charge the user\u2019s Amazon account. The store will also feature Alexa kiosks and Amazon package pickup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>McDonald\u2019s likewise began <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/mcdonalds-is-testing-voice-automated-drive-thrus-in-wake-of-15-minimum-wage-proposals\"><span>pioneering<\/span><\/a><span> voice-automated drive-thrus in the Chicago area. Executives expect that the technology will appear across the United States within the next five years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Both firms\u2019 seemingly contradictory actions \u2014 raising wages while preparing the technology that will soon enable mass layoffs \u2014 perfectly reflect federal analysts\u2019 warnings about the labor market distortions caused by minimum wage hikes. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>For instance, a recent <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/shapiro-debunking-the-15-minimum-wage\"><span>study<\/span><\/a><span> from the Congressional Budget Office proved that although President Biden\u2019s $15 minimum wage plan would increase salaries for 900,000 Americans, it would leave 1.4 million unemployed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In keeping with the decades-long trend of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/opub\/mlr\/2017\/beyond-bls\/the-impact-of-technology-on-labor-markets.htm\"><span>technological unemployment<\/span><\/a><span>, the embrace of low-cost technology \u2014 accelerated by legislative pressure to raise wages \u2014 will continue to displace American workers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Ben Shapiro said as much in a recent episode of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/shapiro-debunking-the-15-minimum-wage\"><span>Debunked<\/span><\/a><span>: \u201cBecause low wage jobs are still cheaper than implementing that technology, people still have jobs. But at a certain point, when you artificially raise the price of labor, the machinery becomes cheaper than the jobs. And at that point, you\u2019re going to see workers replaced entirely across wide swaths of the American economy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Or, in the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aei.org\/carpe-diem\/quotation-of-the-day-on-the-minimum-wage-3\/\"><span>words<\/span><\/a><span> of Thomas Sowell, \u201cthe real minimum wage is always zero.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author\u2019s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span>member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since the inauguration of President Biden, lawmakers \u2014 both Democratic and Republican \u2014 have introduced a swath of proposals to increase the minimum wage.Beyond Democrats\u2019 attempts to include a provision &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2280363,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-56857245.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Large Businesses Are Using Technology To Dodge Minimum Wage Hikes","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-564744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/GettyImages-56857245.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Large Businesses Are Using Technology To Dodge Minimum Wage Hikes","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2280363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}