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The city council in New York City is weighing a proposal to boost the minimum wage to up to $30 — a move that newly elected Mayor Zohran Mamdani signaled that he would sign on the campaign trail — causing consternation among the business community.
The proposal from New York City Council Member Sandy Nurse, a Democrat representing Brooklyn, would require employers to pay workers $25 an hour if those employers provide qualifying benefits and $30 an hour if not. The current $17 minimum wage would undergo a phased increase to reach $30 per hour by 2030 for businesses with 500+ employees and $29 by 2032 for smaller businesses.
Santiago Vidal Calvo, a policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute, told Fox News Digital that the new law will have “unintended consequences” and “constrain the economy for everybody that actually needs the current minimum wage to live.”
“You don’t make a place more affordable by making people earn more. That’s not directly correlated in the best way,” Calvo explained. “If you have people earning more, then prices are likely going to also increase, so my question for many of those people is, okay, you’re earning more, but also prices have increased in the same amount, are you actually making things more affordable?”
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a press conference at Deno’s Wonder Wheel on Coney Island in the New York City Borough of Brooklyn, New York City, on Feb. 15, 2026. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu/Getty Images)
Calvo continued, “That’s one of the fallacies that a lot of people that don’t know about economics fall into. So many of these champagne socialists go and believe that increasing the minimum wage is going to solve everybody’s problems, because people are going to earn more and prices are going to stay the same. That’s Econ 101. That’s not going to happen. That’s why many socialist countries have failed around the world.”
The legislation echoes a prominent campaign pledge from Mamdani, who promoted a “$30 by ‘30” minimum wage message.
“In the world’s richest city, making the minimum wage shouldn’t mean living in poverty,” Mamdani posted on X last year. “As Mayor, I’ll work with City Council to raise the wage floor to $30/hour by 2030. When working people have more money in their pocket, the whole economy thrives.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani’s office for comment on whether he intends to sign the legislation if it were to arrive at his desk, but did not receive a response.
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While many proponents of raising the minimum wage argue that the cost of living in New York City makes it nearly impossible to comfortably live, business owners are warning that the increase will force a reduction in jobs for businesses that can’t absorb the wage increase, Wall Street Journal reported.
In other states across the country, minimum wage laws have had adverse effects on lower-income workers, including in Los Angeles where Fox News Digital reported earlier this year the hotel industry is already cutting workers in response to a $30 minimum wage law that recently took effect.
Calvo told Fox News Digital that workers in certain industries, like fast food and healthcare will be “completely obliterated” by a $30 minimum wage and that “young and low income workers” will be “hurt the most.”
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The sun sets on the skyline of midtown Manhattan and the Empire State Building in New York City. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
“We’re going to see a huge portion of the workforce just immediately disappear from the city and I think that people are underestimating how much certain sectors are going to suffer compared to others,” Calvo said.
Calvo explained the importance of the Kaitz index, an economic indicator used to gauge where the minimum wage should be compared to the economy and that most economists agree the number should be between 0.4 and 0.55.
“This proposal will likely put that Kaitz index at 1.1, which is, by many standards, if not highly interventionist, a huge economic blunder,” Calvo said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Councilwoman Nurse’s office for comment but did not receive a response.
