The irony is that progressives have pushed the car wash workers further into the shadows.
The $15 minimum wage amounts to government prohibition of low-wage work. And yet just making something illegal won't stop able-bodied men with few alternatives from meeting a market demand for their services.
Since many legitimate car washes can no longer hire them, workers are going to the streets, where it's all cash, no tax, no unions, no workers comp, no insurance, and certainly no wage floors.
"The economy has led us to this situation to have to work washing cars in the street," says Fausto, an illegal car wash worker who asked that we only use his first name. He's part of a three-man operation washing cars on the curb out of a van for about $15 a pop.
https://reason.com/archives/2018/10/11/the-15-minimum-wage-car-washes/2
The $15 minimum wage amounts to government prohibition of low-wage work. And yet just making something illegal won't stop able-bodied men with few alternatives from meeting a market demand for their services.
Since many legitimate car washes can no longer hire them, workers are going to the streets, where it's all cash, no tax, no unions, no workers comp, no insurance, and certainly no wage floors.
"The economy has led us to this situation to have to work washing cars in the street," says Fausto, an illegal car wash worker who asked that we only use his first name. He's part of a three-man operation washing cars on the curb out of a van for about $15 a pop.
https://reason.com/archives/2018/10/11/the-15-minimum-wage-car-washes/2