ROBERT BATEMARCO, WALTER BLOCK and CHARLES SELTZER
ABSTRACT: Persistently high unemployment among specific sub-groups, namely teenagers, African-Americans and workers with low skills has been a serious problem in the United States. In this paper, we trace a large portion of that problem to the existence of minimum wage laws that have been in force nation-wide since 1938. These laws remain popular despite their adverse effects because of a lack of economic understanding among the general public. In this paper, we aim to make clear even to those without advanced economic training why the minimum wage law is not a viable solution to the problems of those its proponents purport to help, but rather a cause of worse problems for them. Our method is to use elementary economic logic to show that the minimum wage must harm many of those it is claimed to help by costing them their jobs and to review the data to show that it always has harmed them. Our conclusion is that minimum wages have not achieved their putative goal, but have served the ulterior motives of limiting the competition faced by labor unions. Our recommendation is to repeal minimum wage laws, and failing that, to at least lower their rates, and in their place to help low-skill workers by reducing the barriers to their receiving enough education to raise their marginal revenue product so as to permit them to earn higher wages in a way that does not remove their employment opportunities.
AUTHORS: Walter E. Block (PhD, Columbia University) is Harold Wirth Eminent Scholar and Professor of Economics at Loyola University New Orleans. Robert Batemarco teaches economics at Fordham University and Manhattan College, having previously taught at Pace University, Marymount College and Ramapo College. Charles Seltzer is an economics major undergraduate student at Loyola University New Orleans.
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ABSTRACT: Persistently high unemployment among specific sub-groups, namely teenagers, African-Americans and workers with low skills has been a serious problem in the United States. In this paper, we trace a large portion of that problem to the existence of minimum wage laws that have been in force nation-wide since 1938. These laws remain popular despite their adverse effects because of a lack of economic understanding among the general public. In this paper, we aim to make clear even to those without advanced economic training why the minimum wage law is not a viable solution to the problems of those its proponents purport to help, but rather a cause of worse problems for them. Our method is to use elementary economic logic to show that the minimum wage must harm many of those it is claimed to help by costing them their jobs and to review the data to show that it always has harmed them. Our conclusion is that minimum wages have not achieved their putative goal, but have served the ulterior motives of limiting the competition faced by labor unions. Our recommendation is to repeal minimum wage laws, and failing that, to at least lower their rates, and in their place to help low-skill workers by reducing the barriers to their receiving enough education to raise their marginal revenue product so as to permit them to earn higher wages in a way that does not remove their employment opportunities.
AUTHORS: Walter E. Block (PhD, Columbia University) is Harold Wirth Eminent Scholar and Professor of Economics at Loyola University New Orleans. Robert Batemarco teaches economics at Fordham University and Manhattan College, having previously taught at Pace University, Marymount College and Ramapo College. Charles Seltzer is an economics major undergraduate student at Loyola University New Orleans.
[Download PDF file]