4 ms·

I'm surprised there's no mention of the minimum wage pricing teenagers out of the market.

• vilmosi 9y ago
  That's because the buying power of the minimum wage has been getting lower over time, while teenage employment has been going down. It's not the reason teenagers aren't working.
  • Consultant32452 9y ago
    A lot of these arguments about retirees taking minimum wage jobs and all that is simply increased supply of labor which should push wages down. But they can't possibly go down below the minimum wage. Remember, the minimum wage is just the legal requirement that employers prejudice against the least productive members of the work force. If minimum wage is $10/hr but your fair market wage is $5/hr, you're unemployed.
  • prostoalex 9y ago
    Teenagers don't work summer jobs for spectacular buying power, they usually work for experience. In most modern jobs, however, there's hardly any way an inexperienced part-time teenager can add value quantified at or above minimum wage levels.
• Spooky23 9y ago
  Why? It has nothing to do with it.
  • Consultant32452 9y ago
    Minimum wage is the single greatest cause of unemployment on the lower end of the salary/productivity spectrum. If you have $5/hr worth of productivity but minimum wage is $10/hr, then you're unemployed.
    • Spooky23 9y ago
      Not necessarily. See this Cornell study re the restaurant industry. http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/chrreports/2/ http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/chrreports/2/