A high-cost party

Backers of a higher minimum wage in Massachusetts heralded their arrival on Beacon Hill yesterday with a rally and a marching band — literally. As if the effort to force businesses in Massachusetts to absorb a 36 percent minimum wage increase — so soon after the current $11 an hour took effect — is worthy of a big party.

The “Fight for $15” folks were celebrating their submission of the required number of signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot, on which they’ve paired a question about raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour with one that would require businesses to provide paid family and medical leave to most workers, to be funded with a new payroll tax.

Supporters insist the measures will help lift more workers out of poverty.

But forcing retailers to raise their prices to cover significantly higher employment costs will render them even less competitive with online retailers. And increasing the burden on thousands of small businesses, which employ half the state’s private sector workforce, could mean fewer opportunities for entry-level workers to earn any wage

Meanwhile lawmakers have taken no action on bills to support a (slightly) lower teen wage or to evaluate the impact of the minimum wage hike, suggesting the activists and their supporters on Beacon Hill care as much about the politics of this (marching band, anyone?) as anything else.

Massachusetts is in the midst of a period of low unemployment and a shortage of qualified workers in some industries, a fact noted yesterday by the state’s largest employer group. Those businesses that can afford it will raise wages to compete for workers. Those that can’t afford it — but are forced by the government to do it anyway — may not be around to compete. If they are, they certainly won’t be adding more entry-level jobs.