NYT:
On a recent afternoon, Hampus Elofsson ended his 40-hour workweek at a Burger King and prepared for a movie and beer with friends. He had paid his rent and all his bills, stashed away some savings, yet still had money for nights out. That is because he earns the equivalent of $20 an hourâthe base wage for fast-food workers throughout Denmark and two and a half times what many fast-food workers earn in the United States. âYou can make a decent living here working in fast food,â said Mr. Elofsson, 24. âYou donât have to struggle to get by.â
With an eye to workers like Mr. Elofsson, some American labor activists and liberal scholars are posing a provocative question: If Danish chains can pay $20 an hour, why canât those in the United States pay the $15 an hour that many fast-food workers have been clamoring for? âWe see from Denmark that itâs possible to run a profitable fast-food business while paying workers these kinds of wages,â said John Schmitt, an economist at the Center for Economic Policy Research, a liberal think tank in Washington.
American fast-food workers should be out there demanding $25 an hourâbut, hey, I'm willing to settle for $20, the same wage Danish fast-food workers make. But it can't happen here because...
Many American economists and business groups say the comparison is deeply flawed because of fundamental differences between Denmark and the United States, including Denmarkâs high living costs and taxes, a generous social safety net that includes universal health care and a collective bargaining system in which employer associations and unions work together. The fast-food restaurants here are also less profitable than their American counterparts.
âTrying to compare the business and labor practices in Denmark and the U.S. is like comparing apples to autos,â said Steve Caldeira, president of the International Franchise Association, a group based in Washington that promotes franchising and has many fast-food companies as members.
âDenmark is a small countryâ with a far higher cost of living, Mr. Caldeira said. âUnions dominate, and the employment system revolves around that fact.â
Unions dominating? Health care for all? Collective bargaining? It couldn't happen here. And if it did happen hereâin some sort of dystopian nightmareâthen American fast-food workers would wind up keeping a slightly larger share of the wealth their labor helps to create. That would mean less profit for still-profitable fast-food companies! And fewer fast-food workers would be on welfare! Oh, the horror!