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> There is a clear link between minimum wage and unemployment. This is not an accepted fact. There's a variety of scholarly literature that argues both sides o
by jcalvinowens 12y ago
> There is a clear link between minimum wage and unemployment.
This is not an accepted fact. There's a variety of scholarly literature that argues both sides of this issue.
> Those jobs will be gone for good.
That's an entirely different problem.
- PeterisP 12y agoIt's not an entirely different problem, the point I'm trying to make is that this single factor causes a clear link between minimum wage and unemployment. Currently, it makes sense for a poor person somewhere to make a living by sewing sneakers - because that person is cheap. It makes sense for people to work on data entry, it makes sense for people to flip burgers, it makes sense to do a lot of things - but only while the people remain so cheap. There are many jobs already that are impractical to do in USA, because of the minimum wage - they get done either by automation or by someone in much poorer countries, but never again by a US worker. If minimum wage goes from $10 to $15, then more types of jobs will join that. The 'entirely different' problem arrives when the true market rate of low skilled labor becomes negative - i.e., an automated process generally costs less than a manual process even if the workers would work for free or for basic shelter/sustenance (order of magnitude less than first world would call a livable wage). I don't want this, but it seems rather likely that it will happen within my lifetime.