Zohran Mamdani Wants $30 Minimum Wage by 2030

In a couple of weeks, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani will almost certainly win the New York City mayoral election – and he wants to nearly double the minimum wage. According to the Liberty Nation News average polling tracker, Mamdani has maintained a commanding 18-point lead over former Governor Andrew Cuomo for months. Suffice it to say, there is little that can stop him from being anointed to lead one of the largest cities and economies in the world. Not even his poor economics.

Zohran Mamdani Wants $30 by 2030

This past spring, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani proposed a $30 minimum wage by 2030 for local workers. The proposal, if enacted, would increase the minimum wage from the current $16.50 and potentially impact as many as two million wage-earning individuals.

According to his proposal, New York City’s minimum wage would be raised in phases: $20 in 2027, $23.50 in 2028, $27 in 2029, and $30 in 2030. Additionally, as of Jan. 1, 2031, it would automatically rise annually based on cost-of-living adjustments or productivity increases, using Bureau of Labor Statistics measurements.

“When working people have more money in their pocket, the overall economy thrives,” Mamdani said in an interview earlier this year. “Right now, if you are earning a minimum wage in the city, you simply cannot afford to continue calling it your home. We have to change that.”

Considering how unaffordable the City That Never Sleeps is – and how miserable Yankees fans are since they have not won a World Series in almost 20 years – many voters are cheering on Mamdani to burn the system down and impose 21st-century socialist policies.

Of course, the obvious question becomes: Why $30? Why not raise it to $50, $80, or even $130?

Zohranonomics 101

A mountain of research is available at our fingertips, highlighting the consequences of raising the minimum wage. But when a charismatic individual espouses Care Bare Economics while performatively eating rice with his bare hands, voters are indifferent to the treasure trove of data.

A common casualty in the crusade to ostensibly install a livable wage is young people. The United States is already facing a crushing 10% – and growing – youth unemployment rate. New York City’s rate is already above 13%, and higher for different ethnicities. In places that have dramatically increased the minimum wage, the youth unemployment rate has risen and exceeded the national average. California, which already has a $16.50 minimum wage, is facing a 21% teen unemployment rate.

The body of research indicates that the higher the minimum wage, the greater the harm to young workers. This is because companies typically shift away from younger employees toward older, more experienced ones. Additionally, increasing the minimum wage hurts the most disadvantaged as businesses cut hours, reduce headcount, and slow the rate at which they hire staff. This would come at a time when those who are just starting out in their careers are struggling to find employment opportunities.

But who cares about the young generation when you can appear cool by rapping about Hamas?

That said, the previous point ties into the next one.

Automation has been a key risk for years. However, in a world of rapid acceleration toward artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and robotics, a rising minimum wage would force companies – mainly large corporations – to invest in and adopt AI more quickly. Scores of fast-food chains are already installing self-serve kiosks, and once the Optimus robots are more advanced, why would they not replace $30-an-hour human personnel with a one-time fixed cost?

Even in 2017, one paper found that minimum wage hikes lead to workers being replaced by robots. "Based on [current population survey] data from 1980-2015, we find that increasing the minimum wage decreases significantly the share of automatable employment held by low-skilled workers,” the study stated. "We find that a significant number of individuals who were previously in automatable employment are unemployed in the period following a minimum wage increase."

Liberty Nation News has dived into the economic reality of minimum wage laws for years. But it can all be summarized with the simple act of adopting a $130 minimum wage.

Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation, recently wrote:

"What they don’t understand is that the basic problem with the $100 minimum wage applies to a $30 minimum wage. There will likely be people whose value in the marketplace is less than the $30 minimum — like that teenager described above — just as there will be people whose value in the marketplace is less that the $100 minimum wage. The minimum wage locks all those people out of the labor market. It consigns them to unemployment. It also prevents new businesses who would hire people at less than the mandatory minimum from opening."

Can He Even Do It?

Another $30 question: Can Zohran Mamdani even unilaterally implement a $30 minimum wage? Despite his campaign proposal, neither the mayor nor the city council possesses the authority to enforce the wage. The New York State Department of Labor sets it. But considering that Gov. Kathy Hochul endorsed him, bad economics are now an inevitability.