I'm seeing a lot larger increase than the 1.2% they claim, but I work for several restaurant chains so I understand my sample bias.

back or replaced by new hires as business increases from increased demand fueled by the minimum wage increase.

Money at the bottom always has a ripple effect and tends to increase as the ripples spread outward and upward. That's so counter intuitive that dumb people are never going to acknowledge it, but that's the reason no employer has ever called for a rollback 6 months after the increase has gone into effect.

People who can suddenly make enough money to make it worthwhile often look for more, not fewer, hours. Only a poor-hating Republican asshole thinks the opposite is true. Having new trinkets suddenly become possible to attain is a great motivator for having the Protestant Work Ethic kick in to even the most lackadaisical worker.

Yeah, it's Bloomberg. Boy are they going to be in for a shock in a few months.

It is, though, only one factor. Raising the minimum wage is not going to solve the income problem by itself.

Data is continuously manipulated. For example, when the economy crashed and unemployment was too high, some people patted their "side" on the back when those rates began to come back down. What they didn't include in their celebratory boasts, though, was that some people fell off those rolls because they reached the end of their benefit, without ever finding a job. And, of course, as job creation was celebrated, what went under the rug was that so many of those jobs were for less pay and fewer hours, and many people had to work 2 and 3 jobs to survive.

It's routine for employers to fill jobs with part-time employees, and to make sure they work just UNDER the number of hours that they would have to be given benefits.

This was an interesting article. McArdle did point out that the findings are "necessarily limited." While she talked about the important part unemployment pays, and speculated a little about why it is a bit higher. She failed, though, to show a causal link between raising the minimum wage and a rise in unemployment.

wanted a hike to $15/hour when it meant that between 1.2 and 4% of jobs would disappear, what do you think the vast majority would choose?

Btw, has enough time passed for the increased money entering the local economies to reach its full potential in new or expanded businesses, or additional jobs?