"In what has become a running joke amongst those skeptical of the claim that minimum wage increases have no effect on unemployment, a recent report by the Employment Policies Institute showed that 174 of the 184 co-sponsors of a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour hired unpaid interns."
"In a review of over 100 studies, economists David Neumark and William Wascher found that,A sizable majority of the studies surveyed ... give a relatively consistent (although not always statistically significant) indication of negative employment effects of minimum wages. In addition, among the papers we view as providing the most credible evidence, almost all point to negative employment effects, both for the United States as well as for many other countries." http://www.nber.org/papers/w12663.pdf
"Yes, minimum wages still do increase unemployment."
https://mises.org/blog/seattles-minimum-wage-supporters-ignore-facts
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday July 31 2017, @03:41AM (4 children)
Summary: Minimum wages are good
I find it endlessly frustrating that USA'ians continue to pronounce theoretical doom from the imposition of a higher minimum wage when there are plenty of examples across the developed world where a (relatively) higher minimum wage has been a good thing. In fact, the economies of many countries with a minimum wage are healthier than the USA's economy at the moment.
To take a counter-example, the removal of a minimum wage could result in conditions similar to those in Industrial-Age England. That is - massive worker exploitation including many jobs which did not pay any money at all (sort of like internships today). And those that could not afford to live without wages did what they needed to survive - turned to crime.
Is it any coincidence that the 1st world country with the lowest minimum wage is also the 1st world country with the highest crime and incarceration rates? The highest homicide rate? Part of what that minimum wage also buys you as a citizen is a lower crime rate and increased personal safety. If the worker-scum can survive on "gub-mint handouts" (I see some posters are conflating unemployment benefits with minimum wage) then they don't need to shoot or stab you for the loose change in your pocket. That's the benefit to the rich, though as usual they fail to see the big picture.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Monday July 31 2017, @12:16PM (3 children)
I'll note here that there are eight developed world countries ("Nordic" countries, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland, according to a 2015 OECD report [oecd.org], see page one discussion) without a minimum wage. Most of their industries tend to have sector wage floors, but not everything is covered.
Second, it's worth noting that of the countries that do have a minimum wage, a number of developed world countries have smaller minimum wages than the US: Greece, Israel, Japan, Korea (South), and Spain (see page 3 of the above report). So the US, which is your obvious target has a higher minimum wage that countries with a much lower crime and incarceration rate.
It also ignores that organized crime often fills the gap when there is a minimum wage. There was a study of a Chicago area, crack-dealing gang in the 80s (a blog summary [synchronium.net]) which found that most of its membership made well below US minimum wage. Because of the minimum wage laws, there was no legal competition for the workforce that the gang exploited. This would also increase crime and incarceration rate since the minimum wage has now effectively acted as an inducement to go into gangs in order to earn an income.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Tuesday August 01 2017, @01:54AM (2 children)
Good points, though I would note that Greece and Spain's economies are not doing all that well at the moment, so they're not exactly poster-children for lower minimum wage.
I read your linked article about crack dealing and two very interesting points are worth noting:
These kids had jobs, but the pay was below a livable wage. They wouldn't be dealing drugs if their minimum wage were higher
Classic pyramid scheme
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 01 2017, @03:19AM (1 child)
Ok, so they "had jobs". Why again did they not add another legal, higher paying job then since they were willing to work two jobs anyway?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 02 2017, @02:13AM
The obvious rebuttal is, the gang provided health-care, that's why.