If you’ve wondered what other states have to say about the minimum wage debate, you might enjoy this article.
Democrats across the country are touting the minimum wage as an issue that can drive their base to the polls.
For those of you who missed this week’s Shaftesbury Society luncheon, Duke assistant professor Peter Arcidiacono offered an interesting presentation on the topic.
Basic economic theory tells us (correct me if I’m wrong, economist friends) that raising a mandatory artifical wage floor will reduce the number of jobs. Minimum wage hike supporters dispute that notion. They point to studies that show a small minimum wage increase could actually increase the number of jobs. (Here’s the latest JLF study that challenges that spin on the data.)
Arcidiacono ignored the employment level data and focused on a different argument against a minimum wage hike. He says the higher the wage, the more likely minimum-wage jobs will attract people into the work force who haven’t been seeking jobs in the past. Who are those people? Teenagers from wealthy families.
Those teens begin to crowd out other teens and adults for minimum-wage jobs, so the higher minimum wage actually makes it harder for a low-income adult to find a job to support his family. Those low-income workers see no benefit from the hike.
