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Child-care worker sees hours cut after Oakland's minimum wage hike
invite response
2015 Jun 1, 8:03am 1,020 views 6 comments
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zzyzzx
2015 Jun 1, 8:06am
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-chicago-20150601-story.html
For this McDonald's cook, wage hike could be more harm than help
Hunter's minimum pay goes to $10 an hour in July, but a steep pay raise would bring unintended consequences for Hunter, a diabetic with multiple medical conditions whose care is covered by Cook County's program for the uninsured and poor.
At $15 an hour, his annual income would become too high to qualify for CountyCare under the current income limit.
o any salary gains could be wiped out by the price of his medications and supplies, including two kinds of insulin at $403 a month and drugs to control high cholesterol and blood pressure that add an extra $330 a month.
And that's not including the syringes, health checkups and eyeglasses he receives for free, allowing him to avoid choosing between maintaining his health and providing for his teenager.
At $15, he figures he'd need to reduce his total work hours to ensure his new income didn't disqualify him from his current benefits.
"That's going to be a problem," Hunter acknowledged. "A raise will kick me out of CountyCare. Then the medicines are going to cost so much I won't be able to afford my apartment."
Tenpoundbass
2015 Jun 1, 8:19am
Welcome to the new grand design, take this form and stand in that line, you're neither approved nor declined.
Dan8267
2015 Jun 1, 10:41am
MisdemeanorRebel
2015 Jun 1, 11:15am
Child care at the minimum wage: Every American kid's dream job; a stepping stone to a six figure Executive Career. So many Silly Con Valley/Wall St. big wigs started as minimum wage child care workers.
+1 for the LA times using an Anecdote in an attempt to show a trend
Raising the minimum wage is pissing in the wind if people are really concerned about income inequality.
Less than 3% of the workforce makes minimum wage. Of those 3%, most are students or part-time workers.
In what universe do people think hourly workers should be able to survive let alone raise a family on minimum wage?
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/08/who-makes-minimum-wage/
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oakland-20150601-story.html
Child-care assistant Eunice Medina, 23, was thrilled when Oakland's minimum wage took effect in March. But almost as quickly, Medina's workdays were cut and her hours shaved from eight to six.
Her employer, Asiya Jabbaar, says she had no choice. Despite slicing hours and laying off one of three assistants, Jabbaar says she still may need to close her business next year and convert it to a part-time after-school program.
It's a big letdown for the 38-year-old Jabbaar, who launched Reaching Beyond Care in 2010 from her East Oakland loft apartment.
Her experience illustrates what can happen to small employers when minimum wages jump suddenly. The effect on licensed or government-regulated entities, such as Jabbaar's, can be particularly sharp.
Because state law requires at least a 6-to-1 child-teacher staffing ratio for small home-based child-care providers, it's difficult to respond to higher wage costs by simply trimming hours or staff. And Jabbaar voluntarily adheres to an even stricter ratio of 3 to 1.
Similar business owners have responded by raising tuitions, asking parents to provide lunches and supplies, or simply closing down, says Richard Winefield, head of the child-care referral agency known as Bananas.
So while Oakland's new higher minimum wage may lure some stay-at-home parents back into the labor force, the irony is that they may face higher prices and fewer options when searching for child care.
Jabbaar worries most about maintaining high-quality staff if she's unable to offer steady pay raises. Before the wage hike, she started workers at $9, and every year bumped up their pay by a dollar or so, hoping to keep them satisfied and at their jobs until the next raise came around.
"There's no room for growth now," Jabbaar said on a recent morning as she cared for three 2½-year-olds. "It wouldn't be fair to keep [workers] at $12.25. They're at that cap."