[malyk]

Oakland passed a new minimum wage ordinance last year (the year before maybe?) and a lot of the small local businesses around me raised their prices. They also put cards on their menus explaining the increases. It's possible they stopped hiring. It's possible the let go of staff. But most of them definitely raised their prices a bit.

But the thing is, these places aren't the places that people living on minimum wage frequent. They are yuppie/hipster magnets with overpriced lattes and fancy salads and fancy burgers, etc.

The corner store didn't raise prices. The grocery store didn't raise prices. The gas station didn't raise prices. Landlords didn't raise prices.

My impression is that the direct financial impact of raising the minimum wage in the form of increased prices only impacts people who have more disposable income.

Now, there are other impacts (like lost jobs, lower hiring, etc) but the consensus from economic studies seems to be that those effects aren't statistically significant.

So, minimum wage earners have more to spend on necessities and those of us fortunate enough to have more disposable income have to spend $2-$3 more for a meal or $0.50 more for a coffee.