By George Pyle, The Buffalo News
McClatchy-Tribune Regional News, Apr. 19, 2010
Can Buffalo afford to pay its workers enough that they can afford to live in Buffalo? Can we make ethanol pay? Is Buffalo a good place to ride out a recession?
- Feasibility divides 'living wage' debate [http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/04/18/1022977/feasibility-divides-living-wage.html] -- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
"It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, clothe, and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labor as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed, and lodged."
- Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776
Maybe it is fair that those who do the work of society can be expected to be paid enough that they can enjoy its benefits. But is it always feasible?
The father of modern economics, after all, had never been to Buffalo.
People overseeing the development of Canal Side [http://www.eriecanalharbor.com/] -- the $294 million project to turn the city's forlorn waterfront into a retail and entertainment powerhouse -- say that Buffalo cannot afford a rule that would require Bass Pro Shops and the other businesses that will locate there to pay their workers a "living wage," well above the legal minimum wage and the going rate for such positions....
But those favoring [http://ppg-buffalo.wikispaces.com/About+PPG] such a requirement say Buffalo cannot afford much more in the way of development that does not pay at such a rate. And they argue that the higher wage, topping $10 an hour, is economically beneficial for the employers who would pay it and for the taxpayers of the larger community who are sinking so much into the project.
Still hungry?
UC Berkeley Labor Center [http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/livingwage/index.shtml], Living Wage Employer [http://www.livingwageemployer.org/], Business for a Fair Minimum Wage [http://www.businessforafairminimumwage.org/], Employment Policies Institute [http://www.epionline.org/index.cfm] and its study about the living wage experience in Santa Fe, N.M.
- A temperamental market [http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/04/17/1022633/a-temperamental-market.html] -- Matt Glynn/The Buffalo News
In Buffalo, RiverWright LLC says it hasn't given up on ethanol, but it has put off those plans for now.
In Orleans County, Western New York Energy LLC's ethanol plant is running strong and has built strong local connections.
When it comes to making ethanol, the two ventures are on decidedly different paths.
Related:
- Ethanol industry is trying to regain clout [http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/04/18/1022974/ethanol-industry-is-trying-to.html] -- AP/Buffalo News
- Upstate fared better than U.S. overall [http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/04/18/1022978/upstate-fared-better-than-u-s.html] -- David Robinson/The Buffalo News
... That's not to say that this recession hasn't been plenty painful, with 15,600 jobs vanishing over the last two years, many of them in higher-paying manufacturing positions, especially in the battered auto industry. Countless more workers, happy to still have their jobs, have swallowed pay cuts, wage freezes and benefit reductions that have reduced their standard of living and squeezed their family budgets.
But it could have been worse. Our 3.5 percent job loss from our prerecession peak is more than 40 percent smaller than the 6.1 percent drop nationally.
Related:
- The State of the Job Market, March 2010 [http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/0402_unemployment_report_burtless.aspx] -- Gary Burtless/The Brookings Institution
- Recession is ending? Some Americans don't buy it [http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/04/19/1023538/recession-is-ending-some-americans.html] -- Meghan Barr/AP/Buffalo News
-- George Pyle/The Buffalo News
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