Increasing the minimum wage

The U.S. Department of Labor says this about raising the minimum wage:

Take Three: Raising the Minimum Wage

The president’s plan to raise the federal minimum wage will benefit 15 million American workers, and have a positive effect on the economy. Still, there are some common myths about raising the minimum wage. We checked in with our Chief Economist Jennifer Hunt on the following three myths:

Myth: Raising the minimum wage reduces employment.

False Minimum wage increases have little or no adverse effect on employment as shown in independent studies from economists across the country. Additionally, a recent letter by leading economists including Lawrence Katz, Richard Freeman, Joseph Stiglitz and Laura Tyson points out that “[i]n recent years there have been important developments in the academic literature on the effect of increases in the minimum wage on employment, with the weight of evidence now showing that increases in the minimum wage have had little or no negative effect on the employment of minimum wage workers, even during times of weakness in the labor market.

Myth: Only part-time workers are paid the minimum wage?

False Fifty-three percent of all minimum wage earners are full-time workers.

Myth: Raising the minimum wage will negatively affect teen employment.

False Eighty-nine percent of those earning the minimum wage are 20 years of age or older, and studies have shown that minimum wage increases have had little or no adverse effect on teen employment.

Given these facts it would appear we should raise the minimum wage to perhaps $15.00 that way everyone with a job would be in the middle class, millions of Americans would get a 100% raise; then we could eliminate the earned income tax credit, increase consumer demand, lower the federal deficit, increase tax payments to Social Security and Medicare, raise federal revenue. Have we found the neutron bomb for social inequity with no adverse impact on anyone? Free money, what could be better?

Perhaps our liberal friends have found the perpetual motion vehicle, the self-generating energy machine, the ultimate government action with no unintended consequences.

Note to self: Dummy, don’t you think people already making near the minimum wage will want a raise too along with everyone else above them. And haven’t you forgotten about the impact on prices of all this. What are you saying, this is like reinstating a payroll tax? LOL

Related articles

• Obamacare vs. the Minimum Wage (nationalreview.com)
• Chart of the Day: Minimum Wage Workers (anirrationalviewoftheirrational.wordpress.com)