Ice Cream Shop Raises Minimum Wage, Flooded With Job Applications

As small businesses struggle with hiring shortages, calls for minimum wage increases grow louder. Jacob Hanchar, the co-owner of Klavon's Ice Cream Parlor in Pittsburgh, joined Stephanie Ruhle to discuss why he raised employees' wages to $15 per hour and why that has helped his business.
ยป Subscribe to MSNBC:

About: MSNBC is the premier destination for in-depth analysis of daily headlines, insightful political commentary and informed perspectives. Reaching more than 95 million households worldwide, MSNBC offers a full schedule of live news coverage, political opinions and award-winning documentary programming — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Connect with MSNBC Online
Visit msnbc.com:
Subscribe to MSNBC Newsletter: MSNBC.com/NewslettersYouTube
Find MSNBC on Facebook:
Follow MSNBC on Twitter:
Follow MSNBC on Instagram:

#MinimumWage #Ruhle #MSNBC

74 comments

    1. @Jim River The same people who want to increase minimum are the same people who want to increase corporate Tax there is no logic to that

    2. @Lakers Media The logic is just going over your head. Corporations have not paid their fair share of federal taxes and they have been paying their employees crap wages, so they have been getting charity all those years.

    3. @Jim River What is fair share Just because you earn more that does not mean you should pay a higher percentage

    4. @Lakers Media The main reason the rich should be taxed at a higher rate is simple: They have utilized the system more. The two main factors that lead to wealth creation are personal effort and the socioeconomic system. Both are essential. Larger socio-economic environment are essential for personal wealth. A high-earning individual benefited a great deal from the larger system. The community’s infrastructure, security, and human capital (education and skills) are the background factors that have made their wealth possible.

  1. We The People demand a living wage. It is our time and energy that earns the big bucks for business owners who donโ€™t pay their fair share in taxes.

    1. @Sunny Madron false. 3 combat deployments. I earned mine unlike you. Have fun not being able to afford college ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿผ

    2. @ixsicness as a trained American military veteran, Iโ€™m far far far more capable than youโ€™ll ever be. Iโ€™m also better than you in every way as well. Caw caw

    3. @ixsicness meanwhile youโ€™re a little kid who thinks he can talk hard to a grown man but face to face you would shake in your little shoes. Run along foreigner

  2. People are willing to work for $15per hour, but corporate America are too greedy.

    1. I hope there’s consideration for the struggling “Mom & Pop” stores out there drowning in 70+ hour weeks who need help, but couldn’t afford that…
      And to happen just after the punch from COVID19. I fear a lot of their business, and employees going straight to corporate stores as a result.

    1. @whyso curious In a natural market people are paid what they are worth. If this natural market is falsely subsidized then product or service quality will diminish. This is because there is less financial incentive for the worker to be more productive. Bottom line when you give things away all expenses go up and the quality goes down. Enjoy your $15 per hour.

    2. @Buddy Muniz no, in an unregulated market, children/ slaves are not paid anything. Unregulated capitalism means no regulations like โ€œslavery/ child labor is illegalโ€. Min wage is an extension of slavery being illegal. We have a scarcity-based economy, meaning people are paid as low as possible. For example: if everyone gets an engineering degree, engineers would be paid min wage because they would be a dime a dozen.

      You keep dancing around the fact that massive customer spending increases are good for businesses. Can you deal with that fact?

    3. @Buddy Muniz if you account for inflation & worker productivity increases, min wage was $24/hour when it was first introduced.

    4. @whyso curious I dont even know why I bother with these conversations. K ty… Enjoy your $15 per hour. Everything will eventually be more expensive and people on fixed incomes will sacrifice even more and the crying will never end.

  3. That’s all they had to do and people will come back to apply immediately. This was needed.

    1. You would think these restaurant owners would understand supply and demand a little better. The workforce is in high demand and relatively low supply. Time to up the ante. There is nothing better than seeing all these wealthy people wring their hands and scream disaster on TV when all of a sudden the working force peasants have a little leverage. Great job by Stephanie to bring in some real people that actually understand the situation on the ground.

    2. period! because there are part time positions paying 9.50 an hour.. of course people won’t apply to those positions wtf! people need full time positions and higher pay and they will work!

    1. @willis johns Bigot?Guess you don’t know the meaning of the word bigot? You think I don’t like ppl who operate soft serve machines?I love those ppl and you are dumb.

    2. @Ja Loux Youโ€™re pretty close minded. Itโ€™s not like you know everyoneโ€™s situation. I know a lot of kids just out of high school whose parents kicked them out once they turned 18. Not to mention there are foster kids who age out at 18 and canโ€™t exactly afford school and have no family to turn to. There are also kids who want to go to college who end up swimming in debt from student loans because not every parent can afford to send their kid so making a livable wage would be nice. So youโ€™re the close minded dummy.

    3. @Cole Cole no one mentioned entitled to being a victim. At all. Nice projection though. We are talking about stagnant wages, combined with inflation, etc.

      A living wage. That’s not 7 something an hour. Not $280 at full time… before taxes. Clown.

  4. My parents tiny commercial cleaning company has paid 15 minimum for probably 8 years now. If they can do it anyone can do it.

    1. @Todd Oh FFS, I’m here in Australia watching fuel prices go nuts here. Did Biden cause that too??
      Just an FYI, 3 years ago here fuel was 20cents a litre MORE than it is today.

  5. For many, many decades, the Republican Party has kept working-class people down in this country by keeping the minimum wage low. They always say that raising the wage will destroy small business. Itโ€™s actually just the opposite. When working class people have more money to spend, there will be a windfall for businesses to fill the demand for what they want to buy.

    1. @David Eby Genius…You do realize that inflation happens every year, right? And It’s been over a decade since Congress last raised the federal minimum wage. There are over 2 million people working at the $7.25 minimum wage set over a decade ago in 2009 trying to survive in a world where the cost of living is steadily going up for the past 12 years. And there are over 9 million people working for wages below $9.50 an hour. Do the maths on the difficulty of that…Genius.

    2. @David Eby trump literally tripled our debt with his insane tax cuts. businesses raising their wages will have zero effect on inflation. if you think better wages lead to inflation, you don’t understand the fractional reserve monetary system that the federal reserve utilizes. there’s only one thing that causes inflation… the addition of money into an existing supply, which de-values the current supply. businesses raising wages does not contribute to that, since the money to pay the employees was already a part of the supply before it was paid out to employees of businesses… someone else had the money, and spent it on ice cream (using the video as an example). rising costs of goods and services is not inflation.

      republicans are the very last people who should comment or even have an opinion about anything pertaining to economics. literally every single republican economic policy is designed to funnel as much money upwards to the business owners as possible, from the tax exemptions they enjoy to the reform of workers compensation laws all over the nation.

      republicans hate labor. republicans hate democracy and republicans hate america and everything it stands for.

    3. @David Eby You mean having the world shut down for a year, manufacturing and growing less, along with trumps tariffs and general disruption of trade relationships, had NOTHING to do with it? Give me a freaking break.

  6. I would really like to adjust politicians’ pay rate to match twice what they have established as the minimum wage. That would be a nice reality check.

    1. It wouldn’t matter to them. They have all of the kickbacks they need. Their salary is just chump change to them.

  7. Boom. Thatโ€™s how itโ€™s done.
    And their staff will be very loyal and happy and hardworking.

    1. Exactly!!! I can agree especially fast food!! Itโ€™s crazy just pay them!! They work hard and to only pay them 7 bucks is crazy

  8. YES!!!!!!!! Workers are winning and I’m happy to see it! continue fighting the good fight!

    1. We are: THE AMERICANS… [ THIS IS YOUR NOTIFICATION – THE MILITARY IS REPLACING COMM. SATELLITES ]
      WHEN THE EMERGENCY BROADCASTING NOTIFICATION IS ACTIVATED YOU WILL HAVE ” 10 DAYS OF DARKNESS ”
      THE FCC IS NOT RENEWING BROADCASTING LICENSES WITHOUT HEARINGS THAT ADHERED TO NEW GUIDELINES
      THERE WILL BE A COMPLETELY NEW UNTAINTED INTERNET. THIS CURRENT INTERNET WILL BE ” DELETED “

  9. I always paid over London living wage, and we kept all great employees for years. I much preferred that compared to training new people constantly. Everyone on the team was going the extra mile when needed.

    1. Training new people constantly is costly. I’m in software development and the cost can easily reach $10k+ due to the time it takes to recruit and get them up to speed – especially if they don’t have team-based hands on experience. Places just aren’t willing to train in most industries because of the cost in production and filling the spot. That’s why we see so many imported workers in the U.S. – lower pay and that cog can just be replaced by the plethora of others hoping to get a visa. The industries always claim it’s due to “lack of qualified applicants” (in a country of over 300 million people).

    2. We are: THE AMERICANS… [ THIS IS YOUR NOTIFICATION – THE MILITARY IS REPLACING COMM. SATELLITES ]
      WHEN THE EMERGENCY BROADCASTING NOTIFICATION IS ACTIVATED YOU WILL HAVE ” 10 DAYS OF DARKNESS ”
      THE FCC IS NOT RENEWING BROADCASTING LICENSES WITHOUT HEARINGS THAT ADHERED TO NEW GUIDELINES
      THERE WILL BE A COMPLETELY NEW UNTAINTED INTERNET. THIS CURRENT INTERNET WILL BE ” DELETED “

  10. If you are reading these comments–If I ever go to Pittsburgh again, I am going to your shop. This is how it works.

    1. I’ll hit up the shop next time I’m driving to Rockville. Stop up in Pitt and grab a cone! You rock Jacob!

    1. @Lakers Media well itโ€™s also my choice to work for someone who pays a decent wage. Like they say you get what you pay for.

    1. We are: THE AMERICANS… [ THIS IS YOUR NOTIFICATION – THE MILITARY IS REPLACING COMM. SATELLITES ]
      WHEN THE EMERGENCY BROADCASTING NOTIFICATION IS ACTIVATED YOU WILL HAVE ” 10 DAYS OF DARKNESS ”
      THE FCC IS NOT RENEWING BROADCASTING LICENSES WITHOUT HEARINGS THAT ADHERED TO NEW GUIDELINES
      THERE WILL BE A COMPLETELY NEW UNTAINTED INTERNET. THIS CURRENT INTERNET WILL BE ” DELETED “

    2. @Phil Groves Yeah, that too. And I just googled his business & the reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

  11. Great quote from a while back, “It’s not that I don’t want to work. It’s that I don’t want to do a $15/hr job for $6.50/hr.” … One positive result of the pandemic shutdown is many people displaced from low paying jobs have found other options and refuse to go back to jobs that don’t pay a living wage. While Congress may never pass a $15 minimum wage, the potential work force may enact it by simply refusing to work for less

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.