This seems accurate from my experience. An example of a similar situation here in Seattle is the minimum wage increase we've instituted. It resulted in a minor shift in working hours and prices but not a radical shock to the system and largely an improvement to the people that were working minimum wage jobs.
Usually the confounding factor is how that minimum wage increase is absorbed. There's been a trend in my opinion for the rent seeking class (apartments, landowners, etc) to raise the cost of rent disproportionately knowing that they can siphon more money off the top. It results in both squeezing local businesses and preventing the wages from enriching the local economy. I don't know if Germany has a similar problem and would be curious to hear how they handle such things.
If landlords are able to raise rent beyond what you think is "fair" then that is almost certainly because there is some arbitrary restriction on housebuilding/rentals. Otherwise an entrepreneurial individual would just do that, undercut and take the profit anyway.
Where I live this is happening at the moment (London, UK). Permission to build is hilariously difficult to get and often involves expensive concessions, at the same time rentals are increasingly regulated which makes it riskier/more expensive.
Usually the problem isn't just arbitrary restrictions or prevention of house building in the US, it's an issue of both amount of available land and how insanely large real estate managers/developers are. For example, if you wanted to avoid renting from a Greystar-owned property it is almost impossible considering the amount of property they own. That outsized effect allows them to raise rent far higher than they would otherwise. They also have a tendency to monopolize development so there really is zero escape from their management, new buildings are immediately bought and integrated into the mass.
That's without getting into price fixing behaviors through things like RealPage. I originally moved away from Austin after my apartment had a 30% rent increase, and this was far away from the core in Austin (Cedar Park).
Loads of space in Zone 2 and beyond. Near to me are huge retail parks with parking that are basically relics of the 80s. The land would be worth far more as housing. You can't easily build housing on them because you won't get permission and if you did you'd be forced to build "affordable housing" e.g. give up a ton of the profits. So no-one does it.
If getting building permission was easier then real estate developers would buy up low-rise buildings and replace them with residential skyscrapers. Whether this would be good for London is a matter of perspective.
> He summarizes those results here arguing that while some workers earned higher wages, some or all of the gains were offset by reductions in hours worked and a reduction in the rate of job creation especially for low-skilled workers
I can only speak to my personal experience living and working in Seattle. Economists for the most part seem divided with no clear consensus either way. There's a lot of different variables and angles you can examine that'll lean towards one way or another so I don't think there'll be one clear answer unfortunately, especially since the burst in inflation over the past few years warps data.
that article is from before the burst in inflation. With the burst in inflation I'd guess the stats are even more in favor that the raise in minimum wages killed even more jobs.
I agree that there are different analysis. But, you can't just go by "my personal experience" as in "Seattle seems fine to me therefore nothing bad happened".
Usually the confounding factor is how that minimum wage increase is absorbed. There's been a trend in my opinion for the rent seeking class (apartments, landowners, etc) to raise the cost of rent disproportionately knowing that they can siphon more money off the top. It results in both squeezing local businesses and preventing the wages from enriching the local economy. I don't know if Germany has a similar problem and would be curious to hear how they handle such things.