4 ms·

This article starts out with some bad assumptions, namely that raising the minimum wage would only affect workers who are "at or below minimum wage" - a group c

This article starts out with some bad assumptions, namely that raising the minimum wage would only affect workers who are "at or below minimum wage" - a group claimed to be 31% teenagers. However, a more intellectually honest statistic would be to look at the populations at or below a proposed new minimum wage (say $10/hr), which you'd find is a much larger portion of the US population and a much smaller percentage of teenagers.

lostcolony 13y ago
It also discounts people who currently do not work, because the amount of additional pay (after taxes and reduced benefits due to having a higher income) is so minuscule compared to the amount of time they have to spend. If the minimum wage was raised, it may lead to more people actually seeking work, since they difference between not working and being paid welfare, and working and having reduced welfare (maybe even going off it completely) is higher, and this guy ignores that as well.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
walshemj 13y ago
yes reeks of a "think tank" massaging the figures to support a hard right political line - it also ignores the effect of in work benefits (ie joe tax payer subsidizing poor employers). Its telling that George Osbourn the conservative chancellor of the exchequer wants to increase the minimum wage in the UK to reduce the vast amount of tax subsidy he has to pay out.
brenschluss 13y ago
Yes. If one were to analyze the effects of a minimum wage, why would one look at the minimum wage itself? The minimum wage is a price floor that can only drive wages up. It would be logical to understand that an hourly wage ( for example, minimum wage + $0.50) is a function of the minimum wage.
- glenra 13y ago
  > The minimum wage is a price floor that can only drive wages up Not quite true. It can also drive people out of work. If you include all the people who lose their jobs (counting their new wage as $0/hour), the average wage paid to all the people involved might easily decline when the minimum wage rate is increased.
glenra 13y ago
Read the rest of the article - it goes on to discuss those making less than $9.50. (Not $10.10, because the stats available apparently aren't broken down in a way that makes it easy to isolate that group - the article mentions that too.)

lostcolony 13y ago

It also discounts people who currently do not work, because the amount of additional pay (after taxes and reduced benefits due to having a higher income) is so minuscule compared to the amount of time they have to spend. If the minimum wage was raised, it may lead to more people actually seeking work, since they difference between not working and being paid welfare, and working and having reduced welfare (maybe even going off it completely) is higher, and this guy ignores that as well.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]

walshemj 13y ago

yes reeks of a "think tank" massaging the figures to support a hard right political line - it also ignores the effect of in work benefits (ie joe tax payer subsidizing poor employers). Its telling that George Osbourn the conservative chancellor of the exchequer wants to increase the minimum wage in the UK to reduce the vast amount of tax subsidy he has to pay out.

brenschluss 13y ago

Yes. If one were to analyze the effects of a minimum wage, why would one look at the minimum wage itself? The minimum wage is a price floor that can only drive wages up. It would be logical to understand that an hourly wage ( for example, minimum wage + $0.50) is a function of the minimum wage.

glenra 13y ago
> The minimum wage is a price floor that can only drive wages up Not quite true. It can also drive people out of work. If you include all the people who lose their jobs (counting their new wage as $0/hour), the average wage paid to all the people involved might easily decline when the minimum wage rate is increased.

glenra 13y ago

Read the rest of the article - it goes on to discuss those making less than $9.50. (Not $10.10, because the stats available apparently aren't broken down in a way that makes it easy to isolate that group - the article mentions that too.)