Posted on 04/01/2014 3:02:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
>A new study by the free-market American Action Forum found that states with minimum wages higher than the federal minimum suffer from higher unemployment.
Researchers looked at labor data from both the nineteen states that as of 2013 had enforced minimum wages above $7.25 per hour and the thirty-one states that had minimum wages equal to $7.25.
Overall, they found that just a $1 increase in the minimum wage was “associated with a 1.48 percentage point increase in the unemployment rate,” and a “0.18 percentage point decrease in the net job growth rate.”
A higher minimum wage thus led to the unemployment of 747,700 workers and a job growth reduction of 83,300 jobs, the study claims.
The study noted that minimum wage hikes especially took a toll on the employment opportunities for young and low-skill workers.
Focusing in on 16-to-19-year-olds, researchers found that the “mean annual average teenage unemployment rate in states with minimum wages above $7.25 per hour in 2013 was 22.5 percent, which was 2.0 percentage points above the 20.5 percent mean annual average unemployment rate in states with minimum wages at $7.25 per hour.”
Furthermore, “In high minimum wage states, the net job growth rate for teenagers was actually negative in 2013, with a mean annual average rate of -0.5 percent.”
“This was 2.3 percentage points lower than the mean annual average net job growth rate among states with the federal minimum wage. In those states teenage employment levels increased 1.8 percent from 2012 to 2013,” said the report.
These figures are worth noting, said the authors, because teenagers made up 24.2 percent of all minimum wage earners in 2013.
Researchers also addressed the state of Washington, which has the nation’s second highest minimum wage — $9.32 an hour — but hasn’t experienced job growth problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Really need an Animated GIF with sound of Gomer Pyle saying “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!”
There are those of you out there I can always count on to come through! Thanks.
That makes no sense. They’re saying that making labor more expensive reduces the demand for that labor. That’s as silly as the stuff in Econ 101, before liberals moved on to more sensible courses like:
SOC 101 - Community Organizing for Communists
SOC 102 - Race Card for fun and Profit
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