Thursday, February 20, 2014

Gap in the logic

Writing in the WSJ, Shelly Banjo writes;
Gap Inc. GPS +0.47% told employees Wednesday it planned to raise its minimum hourly wage to $10 by next year, breaking with U.S. retailers and business groups that have urged lawmakers to maintain the federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour. [our bold]
Then, a few paragraphs later also;
Gap said it began contemplating a wage increase last fall and made a strategic decision to gain an advantage over its competitors, rather than as a reaction to the debate in Washington. The company declined to take a stand on whether the federal minimum wage should be increased.
"We understand there are industry and political views on the notion of wages," Chief Executive Glenn Murphy said in an interview Wednesday. "We respect the fact that other people have their own views and everyone has to run their own business based on what they think is best." 
Which would seem to contradict the idea that The Gap is 'breaking with' other businesses. They're merely competing, as they always have, by differentiating themselves in the retail marketplace.



2 comments:

  1. Perhaps the GAP faced a labor turnover the same as Mr. Ford faced exactly a century ago, plus ça change. The fluidity of markets necessarily prevent any constant exploitation of labor but the persistence of myth provides a means to exploit that same labor.

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    1. In fact, there is quite a bit of evidence that you're correct. I'll try to get around to these two Aggies soon;

      http://econweb.tamu.edu/jmeer/Meer_West_Minimum_Wage.pdf

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