A globalist psyop to create market barriers to entry for undesired competition. Research by Dr. Joseph J. Sabia has found no link between higher minimum wages and economic growth. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, a $9 national minimum wage would cost 100,000 jobs; a $10.10 minimum wage would cost a half-million jobs. And according to a follow-up analysis using the CBO methodology, a $12 minimum wage would destroy 770,000 jobs. A 2007 study by the Univ. of New Hampshire found that 7 out of 10 economists agree that the EITC is the best antipoverty program available to us, while only 1 out of 10 said the same thing about minimum wage hikes. 85 percent of the most credible studies on the minimum wage point to job losses for less-skilled employees. The latest and most up-to-date research has strengthened this conclusion.
When you look at the poor in America, do you know what factor is widespread? They are not in the workforce. The best way to escape poverty is to get a job. Ask yourself a question. Seriously, actually ask yourself this question: is it better for a poor person’s future to be on welfare, or to have a job? It’s an important question because in the United States, politicians have decided that it is often better for that person to be on welfare. They have made it ILLEGAL for an unemployed person or one on welfare to take a job for less than the ever-rising, government-mandated minimum wage.
But every minimum wage law passed in the states and by Congress has two giant loopholes: jobs exported to other countries, and jobs replaced with machines, are EXEMPT from minimum wage mandates.
That is a big part of why so many jobs have left America and gone to China, India, Mexico and elsewhere, and why a smaller percentage of Americans are working now than at any time in the last 30 years. It’s why when you call a business, your call is often routed halfway around the world: to escape America’s government-mandated wages and other job-killing regulations. It’s a big reason why every toy in the toy store, and every craft in the craft store, is made in China.
Nothing kills hope faster than joblessness. Studies show someone out of work just six months is, a decade later, still economically behind otherwise comparable peers who did not have a jobless period. An unemployed person at the bottom rung of our economy needs a job – any job – to start building a record of diligence, hard work and reliability. And to learn those life skills that only showing up on time every day can instill.
So if you think you are kind and caring because you support higher minimum wage mandates, think again. Sure, you will help some people get a raise, but you will crush other people’s lives in the process. And the people harmed are often Black and/or Hispanic, communities who have unemployment rates far higher than those of Asians and whites.
Those who get and keep these higher-paying jobs might be winners, seeing an increase in their take-home pay, but those gains have offsetting losses. Research by Jonathan Meer, an economics professor and first-rate economic researcher at Texas A&M University, shows that when the minimum wage is raised, employers offset increased labor costs by reducing benefits like the generosity of health insurance. Other benefits, like free parking or flexibility in scheduling, are more difficult to measure but are also likely to be cut back. Employers will likely expect more work effort when they are forced to pay more, changing the nature of jobs. And in the longer run, economists have found that employers shift towards automation and expecting customers to do more things themselves– reducing job growth in ways that aren’t always obvious. This damage takes time to be seen, which is one reason minimum wage hikes, like rent control, often seem appealing.1
It’s not compassionate to tell someone who can’t get anyone to hire them at the current minimum wage that you are going to raise the minimum wage even further, making it that much harder for them to find a job. It’s time to end our mindless support for more government mandates, and instead adopt smart policies to grow jobs IN AMERICA and replace idleness, welfare and government dependency with a culture of work and opportunity.
Proponents of a higher minimum wage are determined to make their case no matter how much evidence piles up against them. But in doing so they conveniently avoid the evidence that directly challenges their arguments. We looked at several of the popular arguments proponents of a higher wage make, and the facts tell a different story.
Advocates are absolutely correct that we have to do something to help low-income families. Other policies, like the Earned Income Tax Credit, are better targeted and much more effective. By transferring money to low-wage workers in low-income households, these kinds of programs get funds to those who actually need them without reducing employers’ incentives to hire. We should never minimize the struggles of low-income families to get ahead. But good intentions are no substitute for good policy. Minimum wage proponents mean well, but the unintended consequences hurt the worst-off the most.
Minimum Wage Myths
Myth #1 Raising the minimum wage stimulates the economy
Fact: Research has found no link between higher minimum wages and economic growth. Dr. Joseph J. Sabia used data from the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis to measure the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employment response associated with an increase in the minimum wage. He found that an increase in the minimum wage has no discernible impact on overall GDP and could actually hinder growth in certain low-wage sectors.
Myth #2 Raising the minimum wage won’t reduce jobs
Fact: According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, a $9 national minimum wage would cost 100,000 jobs; a $10.10 minimum wage would cost a half-million jobs. And according to a follow-up analysis using the CBO methodology, a $12 minimum wage would destroy 770,000 jobs.
Myth #3 Raising the minimum wage will save taxpayers money
Fact: Dr. Joseph Sabia of San Diego State University and Thanh Tam Nguyen examined 35 years of government data across a number of different datasets and determined that, on net, minimum wage increases have little to no net effect on participation in (or spending on) a range of means-tested programs.
Myth # 4 Most minimum wage earners are single parents with kids
Fact: Census Bureau data shows that just one in 10 of those affected by a $10.10 or $12 minimum wage fit this description. A majority of those affected are either second or third-earners in households where the average family income exceeds $50,000 per year.
Myth # 5 A higher minimum wage is the best way to address poverty
Fact: A 2007 study by the University of New Hampshire found that seven out of 10 economists agree that the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is the best antipoverty program available to us, while only one out of 10 said the same thing about minimum wage hikes. Economists Joseph Sabia at San Diego State University and Robert Nielsen at the University of Georgia found a 1% drop in state poverty rates associated with each 1% increase in a state’s EITC. (The same study found no relationship between minimum wage hikes and poverty rates.)
Myth # 6 Economic research shows that a higher minimum wage is good public policy
Fact: Economists at the University of California-Irvine and the Federal Reserve Board reviewed two decades of research on the subject, and found that 85 percent of the most credible studies on the minimum wage point to job losses for less-skilled employees. The latest and most up-to-date research has strengthened this conclusion.
