When we talk about the $15 minimum wage hike, we generally concentrate on the fast-food industry, where are large percentage of minimum wage jobs are to be found. The results of hikes have so far been depressing, with many formerly employed people now jobless.

But an article in The American Interest suggests that the effects of minimum wage hikes to $15 an hour, endorsed by the Democratic Party, will be felt even more in the manufacturing sector–and it won't be pretty.  The American Interest article relies heavily on Adam Ozimek, who blogs as the "Dismal Scientist."

According to The American Interest:

An increase to, say, $9 dollars per hour probably would have the biggest impact on service and retail. But Ozimek argues that an increase of the magnitude currently being considered would also have a strong impact on the manufacturing sector.

He crunches the numbers and finds that 35 percent of manufacturing workers—5.3 million people—are currently earning less than $15 per hour. “Lifting the minimum wage to $15 an hour”, he notes, “would not just be quantitatively larger than previous U.S. experience, but qualitatively different in that it would affect a different set of workers and industries.”

Moreover, mandated wage increases in the manufacturing industry could imperil more American jobs than wage increases in the fast food industry because manufacturing is more mobile, and more subject to the forces of global economic competition.

Moreover, mandated wage increases in the manufacturing industry could imperil more American jobs than wage increases in the fast food industry because manufacturing is more mobile, and more subject to the forces of global economic competition.

Ozick had written:

The potential for lost jobs is particularly acute given that many manufacturers face global competition. If wages become too high in one place, it’s easier for a manufacturer than for, say, a restaurant, to relocate operations. After all, the huge decline in manufacturing employment in previous decades is in part a warning about the unsustainability of above-market wages in a globally competitive environment.

As the magazine notes, manufacturing will never come back in the U.S.  to what it once was, but there has been an upswing recently and a drastic minimum wage hike is a good way to put a stop to that.

And, when the wage hike has made it impossible for many of these manufacturers to operate in the U.S., and they go to better environments, Democratic politicians will call them Benedict Arnold Companies.