Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who has pushed both the county and th City of San Antonio to raise the minimum wage for their employees and for employees of suppliers and contractors to $15 an hour, is praising Amazon.com for making the move, and is urging San Antonio employers to follow suit, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
"You get a better quality employees," he said. "It isn't like you are giving away bucks for no reason."
Both the City and the County have included raises for their lowest paid employees in recent budgets as they approach a $15 an hour floor. He says it has been great for recruitment, especially at a time when the strong economy has made it hard to fill many jobs.
"We have had really good qualified employees working, and wanting to work here," he said.
Wolff agrees that economists are right, that raising the minimum wage means wages of higher skilled employees have to be raised as well, but he says in the end, it boost the local economy and the lives of the workers.
But Wolff did not say he would push for a mandatory $15 hourly minimum wage for private employees, as some counties have done.
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