Fast-food workers pleaded Thursday with the Kansas City Council to boost the city’s minimum wage, while restaurant and hotel representatives warned such a move would simply cost jobs.
The two sides squared off as the council wrestled with grass-roots petitioners’ proposal to increase minimum pay in the city from $7.65 to $10 per hour by Sept. 1 and to $15 per hour by 2020.
At the council’s invitation, University of Missouri-Kansas City associate economics professor Peter Eaton provided some facts, noting that nearly half of Missouri’s workers make less than $15 per hour. He pointed out that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a living wage calculator by geographical area. That calculator says a living wage for a single adult and child in Kansas City would be $18 per hour.
Eaton supported increasing the minimum wage but acknowledged there might be some adverse consequences if Kansas City is the only area city to act. He predicted the negative impact would be less than most people expect. Read more.