A few posts ago I alluded to the fact that most economists oppose rises in the minimum wage, while non-economists in general support them. I’m not an economist. But I think we need to take economists seriously, just in case they know something we don’t.
During the State of the Union address last night, President Obama told Congress that he would like the federal minimum wage to be $9/hour, instead of $7.25/hour. His reasoning was that it isn’t right for full-time workers to earn less than $9/hr. That premise isn’t a bad one–I think we’d all like to see wages rise and the standard of living along with it. But the effect of the minimum wage isn’t generally to raise wages. What it tends to do is cause unemployment among unskilled workers. This is true especially for teenagers, who are new to the labor market and lack experience and skills…
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