5 Right-Wing Myths About Raising the Minimum Wage, Debunked

[unhappycamper]

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/dave-johnson/53846/5-right-wing-myths-about-raising-the-minimum-wage-debunked

5 Right-Wing Myths About Raising the Minimum Wage, Debunked
by Dave Johnson | January 25, 2014 - 11:13am

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1. Myth: Only teenagers make the minimum wage.

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There may once have been a time when most people who earned the minimum were teenagers in starter jobs. But times and the structure of our economy have changed for the worse. According to the Economic Policy Institute, “87.9 percent of those affected nationally by increasing the federal minimum wage to $9.80 are 20 years of age and older. The share of those affected who are 20 or older varies by state, from a low of 77.1 percent in Massachusetts to a high of 92.4 percent in Florida (and 93.9 percent in the District of Columbia).” Also, “more than a third (35.8 percent) are married, and over a quarter (28.0 percent) are parents.”

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2. Myth: A minimum wage is “government interference” that just distorts the market. If there are lots of people looking for work, then wages should fall.

The problem with this myth is that we live in a consumer economy and a consumer economy does better when more people and businesses have more money to spend. In other words, the economy rises and falls based on how much demand there is for the goods and service that our companies provide.

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3. Myth: Raising the minimum wage costs jobs.

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It might seem obvious to people that raising wages will cause companies to hire fewer people. But not when you think it through. Well-run companies employ the right number of people to handle the demand for the goods or services they produce. They don’t just have extra people sitting around reading the newspaper, who they will lay off if they have to pay a couple dollars more an hour.

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4. Myth: Raising the minimum wage hurts blacks, Latinos, fill in the blank.

Many conservatives play a propaganda trick by claiming that raising the minimum wage hurts the very people liberals want to help. Fox News' Art Laffer called the minimum wage the "Black Teenage Unemployment Act." At far-right Townhall, Walter E. Williams claimed that “increases in the minimum wage at both the state and federal level are partially to blame for the crisis in employment for minority young adults.”