Actually I consider it possible that the minimum wage may cause some unemployment in some areas but I don’t think it causes a lot as some seem to believe. I don’t think the minimum wage serves any purpose, if it did then it should be raised to some huge figure like a hundred dollars an hour so we could all drive new vehicles and live in big houses. I turned nineteen in 1963 when the minimum went to $1.25 an hour and that was well above the current minimum in real terms. In this area someone who made twice the minimum then could marry and support a family on one income and WITHOUT GOVERNMENT HELP. Try that now on double the current minimum. I am all for dropping the minimum altogether but I doubt that if it was done there would be a lot of people taking five or six dollar an hour jobs. I live in a relatively low wage area and not many seem to be working for the minimum now. Mostly they either earn more or just don’t work. I don’t know when you were 16 but when I was 16 the minimum was $1.00 and that definitely bought a lot more food than the current $7.35 does, it would buy on average four gallons of gasoline, the current minimum will get you just a little more than two gallons here and now.
There were plenty of jobs then and the actual value of the minimum wage was well above what it is now so I think we need to look to other factors to account for the bulk of the unemployment problem.
I agree with everything you said - except the above. The original purpose of the minimum wage was for unions to keep cheaper competition out of the workforce. In the early days, that meant blacks and immigrants. These days, the unions are in favor of illegal immigration (even though it undercuts their own members) because they believe the illegals will eventually become unionized and start paying dues.
The minimum wage causes unemployment (temporarily) because unskilled workers simply aren't worth that much until the economy catches up and other prices rise enough to absorb the increase (i.e. the cost of a Big Mac). But that's the whole point - by the time that happens, nobody's life has been improved. The net result is zero or, as you say, even worse. If the minimum wage was $100.00 per hour, a Big Mac would cost about $40.00.
BTW I turned 16 in 1968. My first job at a Burger Chef paid the minimum of $1.80 (I think).
By the way, see what Thomas Sowell has to say on this subject here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2843083/posts