Diaz, Other Officials: Living Wage Report Not Worth Paper It's Printed On
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The battle over a city council bill that would establish a mandated living wage of $10 plus benefits, rages on.
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The legislation would require any company receiving city contracts or subsidies to pay their workers a minimum of $10 per hour with benefits or $11.50 per hour without benefits.
The federal minimum wage comparatively is $7.25 an hour.
Mayor Michel Bloomberg, who opposes the bill, released a report from an outside firm that was hired by the city that claims the higher wages would kill 6,000 to 13,000 low skill jobs.
The study, which was done by Charles River Associates, says "The costs of complying with the wage mandates, and the impacts on future development, are highest for development projects located outside of Manhattan. Even though the value of financial assistance typically is higher for projects located outside of Manhattan, this is not sufficient to outweigh the added costs."
But Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz says the study is biased, defective and a waste of $1 million taxpayer dollars.
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"It's a ruse," Diaz said. "It's not worth the paper it's printed on."
Meanwhile, City Comptroller John Liu also released a statement Wednesday in response to the living wage study.
In it, he says "This million dollar report is so flawed it's not worth the bandwidth for a download. The EDC's claim that a living wage kills jobs shows just how distorted the agency's perspective has become. The proposed living wage would be a requirement on new projects that are heavily subsidized by taxpayers and would create new jobs that pay decent wages. The claim of job losses is rhetoric at its worst."
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