Fast-food workers who took to the streets of New York Thursday in a one-day strike for a $15 minimum wage had better hope they don’t get their wish. If they do, many of them might be out on the street again — this time, with no job to come back to.
New unemployment numbers, released just a day after the strike, underscore what a tragic mistake that would be.
Overall, the nation’s jobless rate stood at 7.6 percent in March. That’s high, but not nearly as high as the March rate for the folks who often hold fast-food and other low-wage jobs: the young, minorities, immigrants and the like.
For teens, for example, joblessness was 24.2 percent. For blacks overall, it was 13.3 percent. One youth-oriented activist group put the figure for 18- to 29-year-olds at 20.1 percent for blacks — and 12.6 for Hispanics.
Those numbers align with recent trends: Figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics show an average jobless rate of 24 percent for 16- to 19-year-olds last year, and a whopping 38.3 percent for blacks that age.
A sizable bump in low-end wages ($15 an hour is more than twice the current minimum of $7.25) would only drive these numbers higher — as McDonald’s, Wendy’s and similar employers trim staffs to keep payroll costs in check.
Folks pushing higher mandatory wages argue that no one can support a family on $7.25 an hour (about $290 for a 40-hour week). They’re right. But few people do: Federal figures show that just 5.2 percent of hourly workers are paid minimum wage, and about half of these are under the age of 25. That is, they’re young folks who may still live with their parents.
Many of the rest are part-timers, retirees, housewives or others seeking extra cash — and not necessarily dependent on their jobs to support families. These folks need the work far more than a higher wage rate.
Indeed, entry-level work is critical for young folks desperate to take that first step on the career ladder. But it’s the low wages that help make the jobs possible.
Meanwhile, the folks on strike might be out of work sooner than they realize: Albany just OK’d a hike in the state rate to $9.