After reading the umpteenth editorial, article, or post about the effects of increasing the minimum wage, I have a question. Is there anything that would convince proponents of an increase in the federal minimum wage that it’s a bad idea?
I’m not an opponent of the idea so much as a skeptic and I can say what would convince me to support increasing the minimum wage to $15/hour: show that the number of jobs did not decline, job growth did not slow, and median income rose. Even shorter: show that the number of people being helped greatly outnumbered the number of people being hurt.
Of course it never occurs to the proponents of raising the minimum wage that their own policies on immigration and trade have a much more deleterious effect on wages than raising the minimum wage could ever account for, even if their policies worked exactly as they claim it would.
what would convince me to support increasing the minimum wage to $15/hour: show that the number of jobs did not decline, job growth did not slow, and median income rose. Even shorter: show that the number of people being helped greatly outnumbered the number of people being hurt.
Aren’t there just two criteria for success?
1. Maximize average wage (or GNP/capita).
2. Minimize deviation in wages (or Gini index)?
If raising the minimum wage is beneficial, why not just raise it to $100/hr and make us all rich?