Monday, January 22, 2007

At Least It Sounds Like a Good Idea

Perhaps no other so-called economic reform has been studied more than the impact of the minimum wage on poor-to-low income, unskilled, undereducated, unemployed Americans. The preponderance of these studies has shown time and again that raising the minimum wage does not live up to its promises. It doesn't create employment for those it is supposed to help; it reduces employment. It doesn't help the most vulnerable Americans, especially poor minorities; it worsens their plight.

Empirical evidence shows that for every 10% increase in the minimum wage:
-- Unemployment among minorities rose 3.9%.
-- Joblessness among Hispanics jumped 4.9%.
-- Teenage minority unemployment increased 6.6%.
-- Unemployment among African-American teens climbed 8.4%.

Read more
here.

1 Comments:

At 1/24/2007 10:13 PM, Blogger Anarcissie said...

Last time I looked at minimum wage changes vis-a-vis employment, inflation and other economic indicators, it was pretty obvious that effects from other sources -- noise -- drowned out any effects identifiable as the results of the minimum wage change. So I would be curious as to where figures like "3.9%" come from. I want to know what method was used to come up with them.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home