Power And Paychecks

Krugman: Wages Hikes Are Just The Beginning
Paul Krugman, professor of international trade and economics at Princeton University and Nobel Prize-winning economist, speaks during an interview in Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013. The European Central Bank (ECB) can do substantially more in principle on the use of forward guidance and quantitative easing, Krugman said. Photographer: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Paul Krugman, professor of international trade and economics at Princeton University and Nobel Prize-winning economist, speaks during an interview in Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2013. The European Central Bank (ECB) can do substantially more in principle on the use of forward guidance and quantitative easing, Krugman said. Photographer: Jerome Favre/Bloomberg via Getty Images

On Wednesday, McDonald’s — which has been facing demonstrations denouncing its low wages — announced that it would give workers a raise. The pay increase won’t, in itself, be a very big deal: the new wage floor is just $1 above the local minimum wage, and even that policy only applies to outlets McDonald’s owns directly, not the many outlets owned by people who bought franchises. But it’s at least possible that this latest announcement, like Walmart’s much bigger pay-raise announcement a couple of months ago, is a harbinger of an important change in U.S. labor relations.

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