One definition of “irresponsible” is to push for a policy idea that affects thousands of people, then when you win refuse to recognize the harm your idea is causing in people’s lives.

That is the position $15Now! advocates are in right now.

Seattle businesses are at the epicenter of the drive for local governments to impose tough $15Now! laws, resulting in disruption as employers scramble to adapt. 

Yet $15Now! advocates say they see nothing.  One liberal blogger blandly notes that opening a restaurant is already risky, so who cares if some fail.

Except the harsh law he advocates makes running a restaurant more risky, and increases the likelihood of people losing their jobs.  His bored response is that sometimes restaurants close and people lose their jobs—no big deal.  He might feel differently if the $15 wage law he advocates put him out of work instead.

The minimum wage is a government-set price control on labor.  Setting an artificially high wage shuts younger and lower-skilled workers out of the legal work force, or forces them into the black market where, without workplace and civil rights protections, they are more likely to be exploited.

The meanest aspect of the $15 wage law is its rigidity. Many young workers happily would accept a job for $14 an hour, but they aren’t allowed to do so. Similarly, employers who would gladly pay $14 an hour are blocked.  The harsh $15 wage law prevents two consenting adults from agreeing on a salary that works for both of them. If a third party, such as the government, says “no,” the would-be young employee ends up with no job and no wages.

The $15 wage law forces up prices and raises the cost of living for everyone, which of course falls hardest on the poor. For some small businesses, the relentless price and labor cost increases force them to close, like Z Pizza in Seattle, or the Legendary Palace in Oakland’s Chinatown, and all the employees, including the highest-paid, lose their jobs.

Sure, strict $15 wage laws hit small businesses, especially neighborhood restaurants and small manufacturers, but the pain falls hardest on those least able to afford it, the poor, the marginalized, the young, the jobless. For workers whose skill level or experience doesn’t equal or exceed the economic value of the government-set price, their wage is zero.

For $15Now! activists, though, these voices are silenced—they don’t exist—because their political narrative requires that $15 wage laws have only an upside, no downside. For them the weakest members of our communities must be shunted aside.

For $15Now! activists, the stories of the poor and the unemployed are inconvenient and invisible. They don’t fit the narrative, so their voices are not heard.

$15 wage laws kill jobs, raise prices, and sometimes shutter businesses. Its supporters just won’t admit it.

Paul Guppy is vice president for research for the Washington Policy Center, an independent Seattle-based think tank with offices in Spokane.