Bloomberg flips on minimum wage

See Bloomberg Joins the Unions: His labor-policy plan could have come from Sanders or Warren by Michael Saltsman. Excerpt:

"Start with Mr. Bloomberg’s endorsement of a $15 minimum wage, which has already hurt the restaurant industry in the city he once led. Quick-service restaurant employment growth in New York City averaged 7% between 2010 and 2015, according to data from the state Labor Department; in 2018 and 2019, it was less than half that. In the full-service restaurant industry, the city has lost jobs for the past two years, something that hasn’t happened since the early 1990s. If $15 is bad for workers in Midtown Manhattan, imagine the consequences in Manhattan, Kan.

Mr. Bloomberg used to appreciate that reality. In 2009 a proposed $11.50 “living wage” requirement for commercial tenants killed a 2,200-job development for the vacant Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx. Mr. Bloomberg said the outcome “couldn’t be worse.” The city’s Economic Development Corp. later released a 350-page report by outside consultants on the harm of living-wage requirements. The mayor even sued to invalidate a living-wage law after the City Council overrode his veto."