Hi Pitch Fork listeners Goldie here. You know one of the joys about doing Pitch Fork Economics is that I get to talk to a wide range of fascinating

people on a number of issues.

One of the pains of producing this show is that they have to edit my tangential questions down to fit the actual topic of the episode.

And a great example of that is my recent conversation with Saruja Raman, where we spent a lot of time talking about minimum wage, a bit too much to fit into a podcast on marginal product.

So for your listening pleasure, here is the full interview with Saru.

I hope you enjoy it.

My name is Saru Jeya Raman. I am the director of the Food Labor

Research Center at the University of California, and the co-founder and president

of the Restaurant Opportunity Centers United.

I'm also the author of several books

on the restaurant industry, including behind the kitchen door and

parked a new standard for American dining.

I was looking forward to talking with you.

I actually saw you speak once in Seattle when we were debating the $15 minimum wage here.

And that was a long time ago.

We've been talking about the concept of marginal product, which when it comes to labor, pretty much says that, you know, the market's going to pay you what you're worth if you earn 725 an hour you're worth 725 an hour if you make a million dollars a year you're doing a million dollars a year worth of work.

Your experience in the restaurant industry,

does the market pay people what they're worth?

Absolutely not.

If you look at the restaurant professions, especially in other countries, you'll see that restaurant and hospitality employees are considered professionals.

You go to school for many years to be a hospitality professional.

So there's nothing inherent in restaurant work

...