Well, in reality the government can’t increase the actual minimum wage. The actual minimum wage is zero. Increasing the nominal minimum wage just ensures that there will be more people making the actual minimum wage.
The fact that is ignored by those pushing for increasing the minimum wage is that working a minimum wage job is, for the vast majority of people, a temporary condition. Most people acquire experience at their minimum wage job and parlay that experience into a higher-paying job, either with the current employer or somewhere else. Minimum wage jobs are great for kids in high school and college or for older people who have retired but are still healthy and want to make some money to supplement their retirement income. They are also fine as “get your foot in the door” jobs for those just emtering the workforce. If someone is still making min wage after several years of working, though, they should probably be looking in the mirror and trying to figure out why TT hat is and how to do better rather than relying on government imposed pay increases that might just price them out of the work force entirely.
The jobless are one part of the problem.
Want to see another?
Head to a local nursing home and watch what happens when the minimum wage goes up and there’s less money to pay the more productive.