Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to make the minimum wage in NY $15 per hour for all workers.
Hopefully would-be entrepreneurs won’t see this as too high of a barrier to entry. Many of those who are currently underemployed or unemployed would like to have a good job with good pay and benefits. If a $15 minimum wage means the average “good” office job will now have to pay $25-$30, that’s going to prove too risky for some entrepreneurs, vs. being able to pay an office average of, say, $20 an hour. Nobody’s going to want to work as an entry-level analyst for $17-$20 when the guy flipping burgers down the street is making $15.
Some talk as if jobs create themselves; they do not. Demand itself does not employ anyone. People have to take on the risk of either investing money to add additional jobs, or to take on even bigger risk by taking on a whole lot of debt, and (thus) risk, by starting a new company. Risk acceptance creates jobs. And I’m afraid that arbitrarily raising the minimum wage by 50% will have a ripple effect and keep a lot of would-be entrepreneurs on the sidelines. We need those jobs.
I like the slower approach – doing it, say, a dollar per year until arriving at the prescribed destination. At least then markets have a better chance to adjust than if you just went “Boom, here’s your 50% increase. Deal with it.”
One reason fast food has been able to keep wage increases low compared to inflation is this: there are not enough good jobs available for working adults, which drives the demand for the minimum wage-type jobs. When labor demand is higher than labor supply, those jobs are going to go to the people who will produce good work for relatively low wages. A natural way to increase the wages at min-wage types of jobs would be to reduce the demand for those types of jobs, and the best way to do that is to increase the supply of better employment opportunities. And for that, we have to incentivize entrepreneurs and investors to go into business or to expand. Being hostile to entrepreneurs’ interests is not helpful.
CNBC Article Excerpt:
"Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration formally approved the increase Thursday, a move the Democratic governor announced at a labor rally with Vice President Joe Biden. Cuomo said he would work to pass legislation setting a $15 minimum for all industries, a promise that comes as more and more cities around the country move toward a $15 minimum wage.
“Every working man and woman in the state of New York deserves $15 an hour,” the governor told the enthusiastic crowd of union members. “We’re not going to stop until we get it done.”
Biden predicted the $15 wage for fast-food workers would galvanize efforts across the country.
“You’re going to make every single governor in every single state in America look at themselves,” he said at the rally in New York City. “It’s going to have a profound impact. He said he and President Barack Obama remain committed to raising the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour.”
Pretty soon I’ll have to leave retirement and go back to work. 
If Fast Food is the bellwether of employment, this should give everyone pause…
http://nbc4i.com/2016/05/16/wendys-to-offer-self-serve-kiosks-to-some-stores-report-says/