Minimum Wage
The minimum wage became an indelible aspect of the American policy landscape in 1938, with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The minimum wage is the lowest amount an employer can pay a worker for her services. The federal minimum wage is set (or not) by Congress, although states, counties, and municipalities can set a higher (but not a lower) minimum wage than that mandated by the federal goverment.
Cry Wolf Quotes
I understand it is called a minimum wage bill, but in fact it is a layoff bill….Kids will lose their jobs, minorities will lose their jobs, senior citizens will lose their jobs. In small towns, in center cities, marginal businesses will be devastated.
I am vitally concerned about the thousands of teenagers and young adults who will either lose their jobs or be rendered unemployable in the unskilled labor markets as the result of increasing the minimum wage to $2.50 or more per hour.
Youth unemployment is three times the overall unemployment rate, and for minority youth it is much, much higher. Let us not make the problem worse by enacting a minimum wage which denies young people jobs.
A closer look at the unemployment [nearly 10 percent unemployment rate] suggests that minimum wage laws also deserve a big share of the blame….businesses are not charities and that they only create jobs when they think a worker will generate net revenue. Higher minimum wages, needless to say, are especially destructive for people with poor work skills and limited work experience.
Evidence
-
States with Minimum Wages above the Federal Level have had Faster Small Business and Retail Job Growth
The authors decisively disprove the argument that the minimum wage takes a particularly cruel toll on small businesses, which frequently employ low-wage workers (and operate on thin profit margins).
-
The Wage and Employment Impact of Minimum-Wage Laws in Three Cities
The Economic Policy Research analyzes the effects of minimum wage increases in Santa Fe, San Francisco and Washington D.C., in comparison with their surrounding suburbs and nearby urban centers that didn’t experience similar wage hikes.
-
The Minimum Wage Merry-Go-Round
Ezra Klein neatly dismantles the usual conservative arguments against the minimum wage.
-
Making Work Pay: The Impact of the 1996-97 Minimum Wage Increase
The Economic Policy Institute study shows that the Clinton-era minimum wage increases mostly supported the wages of low-income adults.
Backgrounders & Briefs
Minimum Wage Policy Brief
By Professor Stephanie Luce
The idea of minimum wage laws has been around for more than a century. They are still a good idea.
Resources
Raise the Minimum Wage is a project of the National Employment Law Project. The effort is devoted to preserving the wage floor by raising the federal minimum wage.
