Fast-Food Workers Demanding $15 Minimum Wage May Soon Have a Much Bigger Problem

[WestVirginiaRebel]

The Blaze:

A lasting criticism of the “Fight for $15” movement to raise the federal minimum wage has been that such a radical jump could lead to a severe economic upset by creating widespread unemployment.

 

A former McDonald’s CEO warned that if the movement is successful in getting the minimum wage raised from $7.25 an hour to $15, robots and machines will gradually take over staff jobs because they’ll be cheaper than hiring humans.

 

Ed Rensi said that investing in expensive, high-tech robotics is a cheaper alternative for fast-food businesses like McDonald’s that employ minimum wage workers.

 

“I was at the National Restaurant Show yesterday, and if you look at the robotic devices that are coming into the restaurant industry, it’s cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who’s inefficient making $15 an hour bagging French fries,” Rensi told Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo Tuesday on “Mornings with Maria.” “It’s nonsense and it’s very destructive and it’s inflationary and it’s going to cause a job loss across this country like you’re not going to believe.”

 

Lynda Gratton, professor of management practice at London Business School, and futurologist David A. Smith recently conducted a study into the future of human employment, concluding that humans are becoming increasingly replaceable because robots are often better at performing certain tasks.

 

“Studies have suggested that a third of jobs in Europe will be replaced by technology over the next two decades,” Gratton told the Mirror.

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Robots don't whine.