NEW YORK TIMES Editorial: …One 2013 study by three economists — Arindrajit Dube, T. William Lester and Michael Reich — compared the experiences of businesses in neighboring counties in different states and found less turnover in states that had raised the minimum wage. Workers were less likely to leave on their own, and managers were more likely to keep the workers they had on staff to avoid the cost of recruiting and training replacements.
Other studies on the effect of local minimum wage increases in places like San Francisco and Los Angeles have found similar results, according to arecent overview published by the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington…
Some retailers pay their workers even more. Costco, one of the most successful retailers in the country, has a starting wage of $11.50 per hour for most entry-level jobs, and its average wage for hourly workers is $21 an hour. Patrick Callans, a senior vice president for the company, said that Costco’s higher pay and benefits “allows us to attract and retain great employees.” A 2006 management case study argues that the higher pay has also helped the company keep “shrinkage,” or theft, fraud and errors, low by industry standards. For national chains, paying more than the current $7.25 federal minimum is not such a shock. Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia already have minimum wages higher than the federal level… (more)
