Did the variety of restaurant staff in Washington, D.C., go up after the town voted to extend the minimal wage in a citywide referendum? That is what The New York Occasions reporter Priya Krishna claimed in an article that appeared in March, citing figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
She reported that the entire variety of staff within the business had elevated from 13,690 in 2022 to 14,168 by September of 2023.
These numbers are false. It seems that Krishna misunderstood the information she was taking a look at. The chart she linked to within the article introduced numbers “within the 1000’s,” that means that the precise knowledge weren’t 14,168 however 14,168,000, which additionally is sensible as a result of Krishna did not notice she was studying nationwide BLS knowledge —not native figures.
Motive contacted The Occasions in regards to the mistake, and the paper issued a correction.
This might be simply an embarrassing error, besides that by the point the paper corrected the figures, the labor group that advocated for the minimal wage improve in D.C., One Truthful Wage, had cited the Occasions’ reporting as proof that its coverage hadn’t negatively impacted employment within the district.
It has. When the regulation first went into impact in Might 2023, full-service restaurant employment was at 29,678. Employment peaked in December of that yr at 30,111 however since then has fallen by 4.1 % to twenty-eight,875, as of October 2024.
The Occasions’ correction of Krishna’s preliminary mistake launched new issues. The rewritten paragraph now claims that the variety of staff within the business elevated to 77,356 in September 2023 from 71,762 a year earlier. And whereas, on this case, these are actual numbers, they seek advice from employment from all leisure and hospitality institutions, together with film theaters, lodges, spas, golf programs, museums, and extra. These job classes weren’t impacted by the coverage change that is the main focus of the article. Utilizing such a broad class would not inform us something in regards to the impression of the minimal wage improve on eating places.
I pointed this out to Krishna and he or she replied, “We really feel our language is correct.”
It is also curious that The Occasions chosen knowledge from September 2023 because the article was revealed in March 2024 and the BLS publishes employment data month-to-month.
BLS knowledge that is particular to the restaurant business, in fact, exist. In February 2024—the most recent knowledge that Krishna possible would’ve had entry to on the time—full-service restaurant employment had dropped to twenty-eight,632, a lower of three.52 %, since Might 2023. This knowledge would have led to the conclusion that the minimal wage improve was having a detrimental impression on employment, which maybe did not match with the preconceived story that Krishna wished to inform.
One Truthful Wage additionally shared a video of Krishna on its Instagram web page two weeks after the article’s publication with the caption “Hear in as @NYTimes talks a couple of invoice we helped go in Washington, D.C. that proves what we’re doing is efficient and offers a lift to service staff.” Within the video, Krishna references her article, claiming that the variety of eating places elevated to 3,472 in 2024. Nevertheless, that quantity additionally refers to all leisure and hospitality institutions, not simply eating places, and is from 2023, not 2024.
For extra on the impression of accelerating the minimal wage on restaurant jobs in D.C., watch my current documentary on the subject: Why these workers want a LOWER minimum wage
