Your $16.40 an hour is roughly $12 here in the US ($11.95 to be exact), you'd need to make over $20 an hour to be at the $15 an hour mark we're talking about.
Even if it equals out to roughly $12 per hour here the minimum wage is $7.25. At that difference and with the normal hours afforded a fast food employee (usually 30 hours so they don't hit the full time mark) that still comes out to be $143 a week difference pre tax.
Except that the minimum wage in NY isn't $7.25, it's $8.75, and that's going up to $9.00 on December 31st. This proposal is talking about bumping that up to $15 an hour.
From the current rate of $8.25, that's an increase of $6.25 an hour, which works out to $9,750 per year (using your 30 hour week), per minimum wage employee... that's insane.
Exchange rates are a thing.
Your $16.40 an hour is roughly $12 here in the US ($11.95 to be exact), you'd need to make over $20 an hour to be at the $15 an hour mark we're talking about.
Except that AU$1 goes as far in Brisbane, QLD as US$1 goes in Denver, CO. Exchange rates are not relevant in this context.
He's not comparing city-to-city, you are, he's comparing country-to-country where I assure you, exchange rates are most definitely relevant.
Even if it equals out to roughly $12 per hour here the minimum wage is $7.25. At that difference and with the normal hours afforded a fast food employee (usually 30 hours so they don't hit the full time mark) that still comes out to be $143 a week difference pre tax.
Except that the minimum wage in NY isn't $7.25, it's $8.75, and that's going up to $9.00 on December 31st. This proposal is talking about bumping that up to $15 an hour.
From the current rate of $8.25, that's an increase of $6.25 an hour, which works out to $9,750 per year (using your 30 hour week), per minimum wage employee... that's insane.