A campaign to raise Alameda County’s minimum wage to $30 an hour is gaining attention in California’s East Bay, but the proposal is also reopening a heated argument over whether large wage mandates help low-paid workers or push struggling businesses closer to failure.
In a new episode of News For Reasonable People, host Sean Reynolds examined the planned ballot initiative, which supporters hope to put before Alameda County voters in November. The campaign is backed by One Fair Wage and argues that higher pay is necessary in one of the country’s most expensive regions.
Reynolds, however, said the proposal ignores what he sees as a warning from Seattle, where rising labor costs have become part of a wider debate over restaurant closures, vacant storefronts, business relocations, and job losses…