Pirate's Cove

The law of unintended consequences (which most who understand reality were saying would occur)

Workers deserved a raise. But Murphy’s not doing the full job, endangering the most vulnerable | Editorial

It was a big victory for workers when Gov. Phil Murphy and Democratic lawmakers boosted the abysmally low minimum wage in New Jersey.

Among the people it helped were the most crucial, yet worst paid in the state: Those with the tough jobs of caring for infants, people with serious disabilities or the elderly.

Many were earning as little as $17,888 annually, if they didn’t miss a single hour on the job – not a survivable wage in Alabama, let alone New Jersey. Now, starting in July, their pay will be scaled up from $8.60 an hour to $15, by 2024. It couldn’t be more deserved.

Can you feel the shoe getting ready to drop?

But it’s not all good news. There are also alarming unintended consequences that Murphy’s just not dealing with, that could hurt the very workers he’s trying to help.

The state didn’t make the needed adjustments so that child care centers, nursing homes and other programs for the most vulnerable could cope with higher costs. Now some of them are in real danger of shutting down. (snip)

Providers were also taken aback. Nearly all the kids in some child care programs are relying on state subsidies because their families are low-income, says Ceil Zalkind, the head of Advocates for Children of New Jersey. Those subsidies aren’t keeping up with rising wages, so the centers are struggling. And cutting staff isn’t an option; they need to retain a certain ratio to be licensed.

The hell you say! Government artificially increases the cost of doing business, so companies have to raise prices, which hurts the people who need those services. Color me shocked!

It would cost about $19 million just for current services to be maintained in the immediate future – a lowball estimate that considers only staff not making minimum wage now, she says. And there would be a ripple effect: If caregivers paid the lowest wage get an increase, salaries of longtime staff will need to be bumped as well.

That would be $19 million in Other People paying for the services that they aren’t using themselves because of Government interference.

The same problem is pinching homes for people with developmental disabilities, funded entirely by the state, which say they’ll need an even greater investment of about $54 million. Their wages have to be at 25 percent above the minimum to recruit staff, they’ve found, because it’s a lot easier to stack boxes for Amazon than to change the diaper of an autistic adult.

Good job, Government, good job.