http://www.qando.net/ - Minimum Wage

Based on their comprehensive reading of the evidence, Neumark and Wascher argue that minimum wages do not achieve the main goals set forth by their supporters. They reduce employment opportunities for less-skilled workers and tend to reduce their earnings; they are not an effective means of reducing poverty; and they appear to have adverse longer-term effects on wages and earnings, in part by reducing the acquisition of human capital. The authors argue that policymakers should instead look for other tools to raise the wages of low-skill workers and to provide poor families with an acceptable standard of living.

That won't surprise anyone but the left.

And they'll ignore it.

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It won’t surprise most of the Left. They know this and they know they’re only using the arguments they do because they work. Minimum wage laws are merely part of the wedge to eliminating (mostly) free markets. Since almost all Lefties (at least among the several thousand I’ve known personally) either truly believe that, if free markets are replaced by their desired command-and-control mechanisms, a) their personal situation will improve, or, b) their personal situation will remain the same. They tend to be wonderfully ignorant of real economics and reality.

Written By: jorgxmckie
URL: http://

Here in Oregon the voters passed an automatic minimum wage law based on the level of certain economic indicators in the month of August. Much has happened since August but the wage is going up in January anyway. Wonder who its going to help?

Written By: Rick
URL: http://

In addition, raising minimum wage actually helps large retailers like Walmart because, as they are a large and efficient company, they can absorb the extra overhead, that is, if they even pay workers minimum wage at all (Wallmarts in my town pay entry level workers nearly 1 dollar more than minimum wage).

Their competition, on the other hand, have more difficulty - particularly the family owned small businesses who now have to pass the cost onto the consumer, or hire less help which prevents their growth. Competitive advantage goes to Wallmart, gifted to them by the US government.

Written By: Jimmy the Dhimmi
URL: http://

Yes Jimmy, it is no secret that many large corporations welcome left wing meddling, since they can better absorb the costs. The result is stratification in which you do not see those hungry start up companies with a better idea, they are strangled in the cradle.

Written By: kyleN
URL: http://impudent.blognation.us/blog

Economic arguments do not do well with the general public. I suspect the more people work for government or large entities, the more they support these laws, because they cannot comprehend a world where there is not massive resources and bureaucracy backing them up.

Indeed, its the small employer who has the most trouble. I recall that we had to give our accountant maternity leave. I am fine with the concept, but as our company only had ONE accountant, we had to negotiate with her to stagger the time off, otherwise we would have had to stop lots of projects so someone could do her work.

Written By: Harun
URL: http://

Economic arguments do not do well with the general public.

I’ve heard it said that if the common person’s knowledge of physics was equivalent to their knowledge of economics, they would believe that the sun circled the Earth.

Written By: Billy Hollis
URL: http://qando.net

I don’t see the evidence to support the idea that minimum wages do substantial economic damage.

Australia has a much higher minimum wage than the United States - and yet has lower unemployment, and a reasonable budget surplus (for the moment). As long as the minimum wage is not too onerous on the employer, it represents a good mechanism for setting a fair pay for people who cannot negotiate a good outcome for themselves.

I am far from being a unionist. I have run a small business for 7 years, and never found the minimum wage to be a barrier.

Employers should focus their attention on matters likely to cause real problems for business: like "Emissions Trading" (aka "new tax" for no good reason).

Written By: The Skeptic
URL: http://

"I’ve heard it said that if the common person’s knowledge of physics was equivalent to their knowledge of economics, they would believe that the sun circled the Earth."

And that the Earth is flat, the moon is made of cheese, and astrology is useful.

Common leftists anyway.

Written By: Grimshaw
URL: http://

I believe that one reason the Dem’s support the min wage is that unions tie their pay scale to the min wage. They are giving their union supporters a raise . . .

I don’t see the evidence to support the idea that minimum wages do substantial economic damage.

Well, read the study then, instead of playing blind, deaf and dumb . . .

Written By: Don
URL: http://

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