This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, Part 2

Last week the Obama administration announced new regulations designed to raise the wages of hundreds of thousands of salaried employees by re-classifying them in ways that make them eligible for overtime. This is the same logic of supposing that you can lift yourself up by standing in a bucket and pulling up on the handle.

Even the New York Times has noticed that this regulation is going to be counter-productive, especially for young, ambitious workers for whom long hours are the pathway to a successful career:

In a letter to the Labor Department after it proposed the overtime rule last summer, Workman [Publishing]’s general manager, Jill Salayi, suggested that because the company could not afford to pay overtime to all newly eligible staff members or raise their salaries over the new threshold, it would have to cut back their hours in many cases.

“Less will be asked of them,” she argued, “which means they will not receive sufficient career development or see timely advancement and/or promotions.”

But the most amusing part is to see that some left wing non-profits don’t like the rule either:

Some high-profile nonprofits have raised similar concerns. Ideologically, the United States Public Interest Research Group, founded to fight companies that harm consumers and the environment, and Judicial Watch, which conservative activists created in the 1990s, largely to uncover Clinton administration corruption, have little in common. But both groups, in letters to the Labor Department, argued that the new overtime rule would hamper the mission of training young idealists.

Heh. Reminds me of the various universities that have had to lay off staff following hikes in the minimum wage, or ask for exemptions for their student assistants.

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