Impact of Minimum Wage

The minimum wage debate is an old favorite. Another very visible and clear line of disagreement between conservatives and liberals. There are those on one side that feel we should increase the minimum wage to a level that better represents a living wage. Other, myself included, feel that wages are best left to the negotiations of the employer and the employee.

There are all kinds of debates raging about that people aren’t able to afford to raise a family on the minimum wage. Heck, it can be legitimately argued that you can’t raise YOURSELF on minimum wage. Be that as it may, I don’t wanna get into that. What I wanna look at is what the impact of the minimum wage, specifically changing it, has on the folks earning it.

Minimum wage is that dollar amount that employers pay to their most unskilled labor. These roles in the company can often be filled by interchangeable employees. That’s to say that if Bobby decides to leave, Bobby can be replaced with Sally virtually immediately. Training and on-boarding costs are very low by definition. If those costs were higher, the employer would be incented to pay Bobby more in order to avoid ‘em. It is true then, that the employee pullin’ minimum wage is the least skilled labor in the market. We can see what happens when labor becomes skilled even in a country of billions:

“We have responded to the labour shortage problem by constantly recruiting workers and raising wages by 20-30% compared to last year but even then it is not enough to ensure the supply of labour,” the source said in Mandarin.

So, who is it that represents this most basic unskilled worker in America? New entrants into the job market. And which demographic is that? Teen workers, literally, the new employee.

So how does raising the minimum wage impact this group of people. Well, at the most basic, labor is a commodity exactly like copper, cotton or steel. As the price for a commodity increases, firms buy less of it. They seek more productive uses for it or look for cheaper alternatives. Labor is no different. So, we could look at the unemployment rate for teens and track it along the changing minimum wage levels. But, if we did that, we might be looking at the wrong data. After all, unemployment, teen or otherwise, is impacted by many MANY things going on, not just minimum wage.

So, in order to better pinpoint teen unemployment changes, I look at “Excess Teen Unemployment”. That is, I take the unemployment rate for all workers and compare it to the unemployment rate for our teens. Subtracting the 2 gives you the excess teen unemployment. When we track this excess unemployment against minimum wage changes, we get this:

With the exception of the times in the mid 90′s when we had a combination of a fantastic economy and stable minimum wage, we see that for every step UP in the minimum wage there is a corresponding step UP in the excess teen unemployment. It’s a pattern that’s clear in 1990 and again as minimum wage laws ratcheted up the rate in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

As clear as clear can be we see Econ 101. As the cost of something increases, purchasers of that something will reduce their purchases of that thing. In this case, teen workers. And it manifests itself in the increase of teen unemployment. Which right now is hovering at about 15%.

So, if teens are the class of workers being employed at the minimum wage, is there a group of people even MORE dependent on this wage? There is. And, ironically, it’s the very group of people who I suspect folks wanna help when they fight for minimum wage increases. And the tragedy is the absolute devastating impact those laws have on those very people it’s meant to protect. The black teen:

The exact same pattern emerges with one crucial difference, the unemployment rate is nearly 3 times higher than the typical teen.

I have no doubt that my Liberal friends have only the most noble of intentions when they plan and institute laws like the minimum wage. I’m sure, absolutely SURE, they mean to help folks and not harm them. But the results of their legislation are as clear as they are horrible. The results of higher minimum wages means that employers hire fewer folks on the margin. These kids then are left with nothing to do and lose years, in many cases decades, of valuable on the job skill refinement. The result to themselves is a lost lifetime of wages relegating them to poverty for much of, if not all of, their lives.

Seems to me anyone literate and over the age of 20 should be able to make 150% of minimum wage without even trying. Minimum wage is a moot point as far as I’m concerned. I don’t know why people argue about it. Minimum wage could be 50cents a day for all I care. It doesn’t matter because no one is going to work for that.

There are all kinds of debates raging about that people aren’t able to afford to raise a family on the minimum wage.

And there in lies the little white lie/ruse that no one EVER seems to really understand! Employees making minimum wage are not TYPICALLY "raising a family!" And if they are, then they already have some life issues to handle such as low morals (sex at very young age - typically), lack of common sense (not waiting for kids when you can afford them), etc... This whole, cannot afford crap is simply a sap-sucker story to get the public to feel sorry for these low-end workers who are just "trying to get by!"

Minimum wage is NOT designed to allow for "raising a family," it is designed as the basic starting point (as the article stated) for UNSKILLED labor! With this is mind, how in the hell can the government tell a company what the cost of their unskilled labor should be? Do they even know what the workers do? Where they do it? The conditions in which they perform these jobs, etc...!?!?!?!?! They do NOT know, nor do they care! They are simply trying to sell a bill of goods to any idiot who will listen to their shtick! Unfortunately, far too many of the liberals believe the hype and BS!

Minimum wage costs jobs - PERIOD!

Good article, it is true that legislated minimum wage quicly becom prevaling wage, and thereby establish a grup of workers of all ages that never earn much more, they are non union shop associates and cashiers stock people and such
including coffee shop and cafe workers and others, thereby making a permanent class of low incom workers that can never escape powery, these people can never qualify to buy their own house or a new decent car or whatever, these people also pay little or no taxes, but are frequent users of the sosial suport system and are often easily swayed to vote for those politisians that promiss them more, and that might be the real reason the liberal left are promoting minimum wage rather than their bleeding hearts, or am I to cynical?

Minimum wage is “absolutely liveable”

The problem lies in the average amount of hours worked. If you take $7.25 pe rhour by 40 hours, that is not a great wage. But why do we assume that a person making minimum wage should only have to work 40 hours when an average small business owner works 70+ hours.

If a person making minimum wage had 1 job where he/she worked 40 hours and another job wehere he/she works 30 hours that would add up to $26,300 per year.

If someone does not have a a heavy debtload, you can live on that amount of money. Now, add a spouse making minimum wage and suddenly you have a decent family income.

I work 70+ hours in my business, why should an liveable wage be calculated on the average 40 hour work week?

No reason people shoulden have more than one job if they can find one, however, many are single mothers that cant afford to pay for baby sitters and such, not so easy this days as many men abandon their responcibilitys and don’t help, yes, I know, they should have thought about stuff before they got pregnant, but you know, everyone think it can’t happen to me. And no, it never happend to me, I worked lots of hours, paid for my kids college and more, and are now happily retired

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