Letters: Wages and quality of life
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Re “L.A. may raise hotel wages to $15,” Feb. 18
At the end of the day, society must settle up these accounts one way or the other. Either you pay workers enough so they will not only have the wherewithal to show up and do their jobs each day but also to thrive and have rewarding lives, or you don’t. In that case, society must supplement their wages with benefits that make up the difference.
That, or we can not pay workers a decent income and not supplement their wages with benefits that allow them to live rewarding lives. In that case, the payment comes due in a variety of ways: an increase in mortality, a higher crime rate, more substance abuse, more illness and all the other indicators of a dysfunctional society.
Joseph Gius
Los Angeles
Arbitrarily raising specific wages has economic consequences. If an $8-an-hour worker gets a raise to $15, someone making $12 is certainly going to expect $18. A more skilled worker making $15 is going to want $22, and so on up the skill chain.
Existing hotels must pass on these costs to the consumer, as they cannot simply pick up and leave. New hotels will not be built in this area, and manufacturers will leave because they will not be able to compete in a world market against companies with a wage of $5 a day.
In a global economy, the market will prevail against government mandates.
Gary A. Robb
Los Angeles
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