A Simple and Wrong Answer to Poverty: Increasing the Minimum Wage
James Sherk
February 13, 2013 at 5:45 pm
During last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama proposed fighting poverty by raising the minimum wage. It sounds appealing but it will not work.
Labor economists have repeatedly studied the effects of minimum wage increases. They find no correlation between higher minimum wages and lower poverty. Raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour as the President suggests simply would not reduce poverty.
This seems counterintuitive, to put it mildly. Surely low-income families would benefit from higher pay. Why wouldn’t it help? For several reasons.
First, relatively few minimum wage workers are poor. The average minimum wage worker lives in a family making over $50,000 a year. Many minimum wage workers are teenagers or college students working part time—they are not trying to support themselves (or a family) with their income. Only one-ninth of the workers who would potentially benefit live in poverty. Raising the minimum wage will not affect many poor families.
https://blog.heritage.org/2013/02/13/a-simple-and-wrong-answer-to-poverty-increasing-the-minimum-wage/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email;utm_campaign=022013FMF
I’m 100% sure this post came from someone who makes more than minimum wage. Between taxes and the weak hourly pay, people working minimum wage jobs really can’t make a lot of money. I agree with your point on the students/kids but what about those who are working multiple minimum wage jobs to support their family? Even then, it’s a struggle to put food on the table and pay bills.
Just my 2 cents.