An article of faith among leftists is that the minimum wage law rescues low-skilled workers from near starvation. If the labor market were just left alone, they believe, the results would be terrible. Legislating pay raises makes them feel good about themselves and also gives them a “wedge issue” with voters who are inclined to believe that freedom is a terrifying concept.
Paul Kersey provides a very good discussion of the economic fallacies behind the minimum wage here.
Kersey presents some research that confirms what I’ve said for a long time: Raising the minimum wage merely alters the timing of the initial raise that workers who start at the minimum receive. Most of them earn raises on their own as they demonstrate reliability and improve their productivity. If the federal government comes along and orders that everyone suddenly be given a raise to $7 per hour, that means a raise for many workers sooner than they would have gotten it otherwise, but it doesn’t do anything to increase their long-run earnings. The downside, of course, is that at a higher minimum, some workers will no longer be employable, and there will be fewer jobs for low-skilled people entering the workforce in the future.
But if it gets some votes, who cares?
