Peter Bromberg's UnBlog

1) Only 1 Percent Of The U.S. Labor Force Earns The Minimum Wage 2) Teenagers Comprise The Single Largest Age Group Of Minimum Wage Workers 3) Most Minimum Wage Workers Are Under The Age Of 25 4) A Majority Of Those Who Earn The Minimum Wage Work In Food Preparation Or Sales 5) Less Than 5 Percent Of People Who Earn The Minimum Wage Work In Construction Or Manufacturing 6) A Majority Of Them Also Worked Less Than 30 Hours Per Week 7) Less Than One-Third Worked Full-Time 8) A Full-Time Minimum Wage Worker In 2014 Will Make 24 Percent More Than The Federal Poverty Limit 9) One-Third Of Minimum Wage Workers Either Dropped Out Of Or Never Attended High School 10) There Are Nearly Six Times More Minimum Wage Workers Today Than In 2007 11) A Change In The Minimum Wage Often Triggers Union Wage Hikes And Benefit Renegotiations In truth, there is only one way to regard a minimum wage law: it is compulsory unemployment. The law says: it is illegal, and therefore criminal, for anyone...

There is no clearer demonstration of the differences in the two major political parties than their position on the minimum wage. Democrats generally are in favor of a higher minimum wage, Republican generally oppose it, although in recent times they have certainly caved. In truth, there is only one way to regard a minimum wage law: it is compulsory unemployment. The law says: it is illegal, and therefore criminal, for anyone to hire anyone else below the level of X dollars an hour. This means that a large number of free and voluntary wage contracts are now outlawed and hence that there will be a large amount of unemployment. Remember that the minimum wage law does not provide any jobs; it only outlaws them; and outlawed jobs are the inevitable result. All demand curves are falling, and the demand for hiring labor is no exception. So laws that prohibit employment at any wage that is relevant to the market must result in outlawing employment and causing unemployment. If the minimum...