Chad,

Here’s the main problem for those who take the long-term view on the minimum wage: You can’t show people the tangible harm caused by a minimum wage increase.

The N&O ran a story recently (around the first of the year, when North Carolina raised its minimum wage) in which some food service worker who made more than $5.15 per hour but less than $6.15 was still in line to benefit from the hike. His boss decided he was a good enough worker that he deserved to make more money than an entry level worker who would get the mandatory $6.15 per hour pay.

People who favor the minimum wage — and those indifferent to the issue — can look at that story and say: “See, here’s a great example of why we should raise the minimum wage. If business owners can afford to raise the wages, what’s the harm in forcing them to pay people ‘what they’re worth’?”

Deep in the article, the story quoted Gregg Thompson from NFIB citing the number of jobs the minimum wage increase is likely to cost North Carolina. But where’s his historical proof? Anyone looking for examples is not likely to find a case in which a minimum wage increase led to mass layoffs and terrible consequences for workers at the low end of the pay scale.

What the reporter and the people quoted in the story missed is the fact that the money for the pay increase has to come from somewhere. Customers might pay for the increase through a higher price for their meals. The business owner might not hire other workers who could help reduce the workload for the guy getting the pay raise. The business owner might not invest in equipment that would help improve the worker’s productivity and generate an even larger pay increase in a year or two. A smaller profit margin might force the business to close — placing more $6.15 per hour workers in the unemployment line.

And the article does not address the fact that workers unqualified to acquire a minimum wage job at $5.15 per hour will be no more likely to enter the labor force at $6.15 per hour.

These are all factors that are hard to fit into a news story. But they constitute the unseen consequences of the minimum wage and other government price controls. People will accept the harmful nature of the minimum wage only when they’re willing to look for and accept the unseen consequences of government actions.