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posted by martyb on Sunday July 30 2017, @06:41AM   Printer-friendly
from the Lies,-Damned-Lies,-and-Statistics dept.

"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


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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Monday July 31 2017, @12:16PM (3 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday July 31 2017, @12:16PM (#547106) Journal

    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.

    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.

    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?

    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.

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  • (Score: 2) by Mykl on Tuesday August 01 2017, @01:54AM (2 children)

    by Mykl (1112) on Tuesday August 01 2017, @01:54AM (#547480)

    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:

    In fact, most of J. T.’s foot soldiers also held minimum-wage jobs in the legitimate sector to supplement their skimpy illicit earnings

    These kids had jobs, but the pay was below a livable wage. They wouldn't be dealing drugs if their minimum wage were higher

    So if crack dealing is the most dangerous job in America, and if the salary is only $3.30 an hour, why on earth would anyone take such a job?
    Well, for the same reason that a pretty Wisconsin farm girl moves to Hollywood. For the same reason that a high-school quarterback wakes up at 5 a.m. to lift weights. They all want to succeed in an extremely competitive field in which, if you reach the top, you are paid a fortune (to say nothing of the attendant glory and power).

    Classic pyramid scheme

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday August 01 2017, @03:19AM (1 child)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 01 2017, @03:19AM (#547501) Journal

      These kids had jobs, but the pay was below a livable wage. They wouldn't be dealing drugs if their minimum wage were higher

      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

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 02 2017, @02:13AM (#547821)

        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?

        The obvious rebuttal is, the gang provided health-care, that's why.