Bad idea isn't going away

There was no small bit of irony in the recent clash between Sen. Bernie Sanders and his campaign staffers' union over pay — the longtime champion of a $15-perhour minimum wage found out there are consequences to such a move.

Sanders eventually worked out a deal with the union that would pay field workers “the equivalent” of $15 per hour, but not before saying he would have to cut employees' hours to pay the higher wage.

“It's a lesson that smallbusiness owners have long known,” wrote Rohit Arora, who covers small businesses for Forbes.com. “Wages, as small-business owners well know, are usually the biggest line item for any organization's budget.”

Sanders remains a firm believer in raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, as do other Democratic presidential candidates who see it as a moral imperative. Many are quick to cite a recent Congressional Budget Office report that said such an increase would help 17 million workers, but they don't make

much mention of the CBO saying 3 million or more could lose their jobs.

To her credit, U.S. Rep. Kendra Horn, D-Oklahoma City, voted against a Democratic-backed House bill to raise the minimum wage to $15. (The bill passed but will likely go nowhere in the Senate.)

Horn supports an increase but says a one-size-fits-all approach is misguided. She would prefer a gradual increase that would consider regional differences. Horn is co-sponsor of such a bill.

She points out that “Shawnee is different from San Francisco and Oklahoma City is different from New York City.” For small businesses in Oklahoma and elsewhere, Horn noted, mandating a doubling of the existing minimum wage “could literally put them out of business.”

At a minimum, it would cause them to recalibrate. They might choose to hire fewer young workers, who would then lose out on the valuable work experience gained from entry-level jobs. They might cut back on workers' hours. Or they might cut positions altogether.

This has happened in many places across the country where higher wages have been mandated. It's not a surprise – if wages go up but budgets don't, then something has to give.

The Wall Street Journal wrote last week about Emeryville, California, in the Bay Area just north of Oakland, where city officials in July bumped the minimum wage to $16.30 per hour from $15. Proponents point to the high cost of living and say the move was needed. Some local business owners, however, are worried about their viability.

One restaurant owner interviewed by the newspaper eliminated his dinner shift and let six of his 10 employees go. Another said he was weighing whether to increase menu prices or lay off one of his three workers. Said another, who recently cut workers' hours: “We're all up against a brick wall.”

It's a bad idea and should be abandoned. Instead, many leading Democrats want to place small businesses nationwide in the same bind.