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Comment by omouse | Hacker News Reader

It's a step in the right direction and it's a signal. If Facebook can afford to do this then other companies can afford to do it too.

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It has little to do with whether a company can "afford" it. If the worker does not provide at least $15/hour worth of value to the company, they will be out of a job.

Positions which do not provide value > than the minimum wage will be eliminated, either because the roll they fulfill can be automated at that price point or its no longer worth while to the company.

Many companies will not pay their workers any more than they have to, regardless of how much value that worker is creating. Supposing that an employee is producing $50/hour of value, their employer could afford much more than $15/hour without losing money, but most will choose not to because they have no compelling reason to do so.

There are, of course, marginal roles and not-very-profitable businesses where the value of an employee is pretty close to the minimum wage.

If a worker is generating $50/hour worth of value for a company and the worker asked for a raise from $15/hour, the company would be stupid to let the worker walk away. It would not be long before they are unable to hire the required labor and they would be forced to raise wages simply due to supply and demand. For this same reason, at least one Walmart in South Dakota had to offer workers > $17/hour (https://twitter.com/Mark_J_Perry/status/476015079712776192/p...).

It really depends on the labor market. If they can easily replace one $15/hour employee with another, there's no incentive to raise wages. If unemployment is low or they need specific skills that aren't available in their area, they may have to raise wages. Most companies won't do that unless there is some external market force (like labor scarcity) to compel them to do so.

They would be stupid and yet they're okay with that because of optics and politics.

*then some other companies with similar scale and profitability can afford to do it too

It in no way means all or most other companies can afford to do so.

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