Consumer Law

Does The Minimum Wage Help Low-Wage Workers or Put Them Out of Work?

By Brian Wolfman

Political liberals like minimum wage laws and increases in the minimum wage because they claim that they help low-wage workers. Conservatives say that they are job killers. (Sometimes they note that a minimum wage law is irrelevant if the market wage exceeds the minimum, but they tend nevertheless to oppose increases in the minimum wage because of the claim that they will kill jobs.)

This article by economics professor Nancy Folbre in today's New York Times traces the history of the academic debate on this topic. She also describes what she calls an "important new study" in which the authors "closely analyze employment trends for several categories of low-wage workers over a 16-year period in all counties sharing a common border with a county in another state where minimum wage increases followed a different trajectory." The study finds that "increases in minimum wages had no negative effects on low-wage employment and successfully increased the income of workers in food services and retail employment, as well as the narrower category of workers in restaurants."

Professor Folbre points out that the new study is very technical, and, so, she recommends this "Realnews" video interview with one of the study's authors, professor Arindrajit Dube of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Finally, consider this: Adjusted for inflation, the federal minimum wage is lower today than it was in 1967.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on November 01, 2010 (boomark / email).