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Michael Saltsman, Employment Policy Institute, on why raising the minimum wage may lead to more robotic computers taking over jobs for humans.
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Up robots to robots are kind of taking over the workplace.
Act does not count yeah.
Okay no not exactly that kind -- robot but.
Rather robotics computers.
That can now perform many tasks in factories supermarkets even restaurants and our next guest warns that if the minimum wage is raised the way the unions want -- -- Even more jobs will be automated and eliminated Michael Saltzman it's a research fellow at the employment policy institute.
And Michael you know we always hear that.
You gotta raise the minimum wage and they'll cut hundreds of thousands of jobs but now you have a new twist and -- -- jobs black to be lost permanently to robots please explain.
-- pursue doing the minimum wage increases let's say for a fast food restaurant.
I mean these are restaurants and and narrow profit margins and so high they have a couple of choices when their labor costs go up they can either raise the price of -- hamburger considerably.
Or they can find a way to make -- hamburger for less money in this case by you're seeing technology now that you know makes 360.
Hamburgers per hour.
I -- with you know no complaints about wages in and no lockouts and so.
This asserted that the brave new world that were ushering -- with public policy I need -- jobs that would be there otherwise.
Eyes to look at the robot thread obviously not get hurt mcdonalds markets in China is they get paid a few bucks today.
But in New York unions are pushing to double the minimum wage for burger flippers to fifteen bucks an hour.
-- -- in new machine that actually put paper itself in less than it a year under that wage structure right.
Yeah that's right and and you know as it fifteen dollars an -- -- the demand in New York but it's still it's not just McDonald's and it's not just fast food I mean if you look elsewhere in the country.
There are restaurant chains that it has served table service chains and -- experimented with.
Technology that lets customers order and pay at the table.
On -- with very little service required and so on whether it's fifteen dollars an hour in New York -- bill in congress right now that would.
Raise that wage for restaurant servers by 220%.
On the changes are going to be the same and it's gonna mean I -- more you know less the service plus full service and more customer self service.
Yet and now we have.
The -- -- military the federal minimum wage is up 40%.
In ten years 28 states have passed even higher wages than that.
And yet teenager unemployment I believe is that all time highs up forty or 50%.
Why don't politicians not understand that when you force -- wages up you eliminate jobs rather than help more workers.
Well you know I think it tends to be a good issue in -- campaign season.
-- and enforcing it is the economic details I don't always -- -- -- of the discourse.
On the but I think we're at we're at a point time where when you have the unemployment it's been -- -- record levels for so long.
It's tough to ignore the evidence and I think we're gonna see even more evidence of -- if if they get there when a fifteen dollar minimum wage because that people are -- -- be.
Placing -- order a computer screen and they're gonna have a computer making their burger in the back and they're gonna scratch their heads and wonder what happened those jobs.
All right you Don -- you keep -- that those Windmills I hope your message to get across thank you very much Michael Saltzman from the employment policy institute tests as -- are robots can't read teleprompter or.
We're -- I think they -- that.
