4/04/2005

The Minimum Wage Controversy

The oldest workers and the youngest workers are the two groups that are most likely to be unemployed. An increase in the minimum wage is said to negatively affect the younger worker because many entry-level jobs will no longer be available to them. This will then put a burden on their parents who have to provide for their children for prolonged periods of time. The older workers suffer from the increase in minimum wage because they have fewer options for finding employment during their "golden years" and this negatively affects their standard of living, causing them to depend on public benefits to live. Is an increase in minimum wage harmful or helpful to society? As first the immediate response is that it is helpful because people will make more money, but thinking it over more carefully may give you reason to think otherwise.

1 comment:

Dr. Tufte said...

-1 on Fred and Marie's comments for spelling and grammatical errors.

Fred is right that minimum wages should be adjusted for inflation.

The tone of most of the stuff if a bit off though - very, very few people are supporting anyone (themselves included) with a minimum wage job.

Economists views of minimum wage changes are also evolving. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of evidence that increasing minimum wages costs very many jobs. The profession is a bit perplexed about this currently.