Despite Bureau of Labor statistics showing that Seattle gained food service jobs after raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour, Fox keeps telling its viewers jobs were lost there.
Fox News “business block” show, Bulls & Bears, was a perfect example over the weekend. The topic was Vice President Joseph Biden’s support for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s call for a $15 an hour minimum wage on top of New York State approving a $15 minimum wage for fast food workers.
Conservative panelist Ashley Pratte wasn’t celebrating, she was scaring people. “Careful what you wish for, because this is going to end up costing a serious amount of jobs” she said. “What we have seen in California and Seattle are that businesses are closing their doors, hiring less people because they can’t afford to do it. Or better yet, let’s put kiosks in place of people because they don’t need health care, and they don’t need mandated sick leave.” Pratte called the plan a “political charade.”
Chuck Rocha, the lone liberal on the panel, said, “If you’re me, the first thing you’re going to do, you’re going to buy a few more cases of beer, and you’re going to buy a few more Whataburgers, and that’s going to help the people who are selling the beer and the Whataburgers, and that’s going to create more jobs.”
Host Brenda Buttner made her views clear. “This is basically the government telling businesses what to pay their workers, and they should be making the business decisions, shouldn’t they?” she “asked.”
Regular Gary B. Smith said, “We’ve had 1100 food jobs lost in Seattle, 2500 jobs lost in San Francisco. Both cities have raised their minimum wage. …San Francisco ranks second in the country in income inequality. Does it help the teenagers of the world? No, their labor force participation rate is the fifth lowest it’s been in the last 70 years. I’m looking for the upside in this.”
In fact, as Media Matters has reported, Seattle has added 1,800 food service jobs this year, despite the higher minimum wage. Yet, host Buttner did not correct Smith.
Media Matters caught Fox Business’ Varney & Company promoting the same falsehood earlier in the week.
Watch the unfair, unbalanced discussion from the September 12 Bulls & Bears, below.