Minimum Wage Laws Hurt the Young & Low-Skilled
Gov. Quinn should rethink his minimum wage position. Advocating for a higher minimum wage is a short-term political gimmick that does long-term detrimental harm to the people it pretends to help.
by Brian Costin
Minimum wage laws have had become an unexpected focus in the race for Illinois governor.
A spokesperson for Sen. Brady said he wants to “re-coupling the state minimum wage with the federal wage.” In the past Sen. Brady has stated “I think supply and demand in the marketplace determines the rate of minimum wage.”
Gov. Quinn said about Sen. Brady’s minimum wage position, “He doesn’t believe in the minimum wage. He wants to abolish it.”
The Illinois minimum wage rate rose to $8.00/hr on July 1st, 2009 and is set to increase to $8.25/hr on July 1st, 2010, in Illinois. Illinois’ rate is higher than the U.S. minimum wage rate which has stood at $7.25 since July 24, 2009.
It’s easy to sit on an ivory tower and tell some faraway business to raise their wage rates and champion yourself as a hero of the working people. But what are the real effects of raising the minimum wage rate on the young and low-skilled? Some experts say that minimum wage hikes end up hurting the people they are supposed to help.
If the government set the minimum wage too high it risks higher unemployment for this sector of the labor market, hurting the very people they are trying to help. A recent Wall Street Journal editorial found that the recent hikes in the minimum wage caused the teen unemployment rate to skyrocket to post World War II high of 25.9%, a loss of 330,000 in the two months after the minimum wage hike. The article stated, “Two years ago Mr. Neumark and William Wascher, a Federal Reserve economist, reviewed more than 100 academic studies on the impact of the minimum wage. They found “overwhelming” evidence that the least skilled and the young suffer a loss of employment when the minimum wage is increased.”
The freedom to work for less than minimum wage can be very beneficial for an individual over the long term. Unpaid and low paid internships are a great way for young & low-skilled workers to get the type of experience necessary to become more valuable workers and find more gainful employment. In economy such as this it can be hard to get a foot in the door of any industry. Internships are almost a necessity for someone entering the workforce, especially for higher paying career paths.
It is not fair to effectively bar, through minimum wage laws, low-skilled workers rights to getting a low paying job. To be paid more than the minimum wage employees must be more productive and more valuable to employers including by; being reliable, working hard, and learning the basic skills necessary to perform a job well. These work traits cannot be developed if one is unemployed due to bad public policy of politicians parading around pretending to be a person of the people.
Hypocrisy among the politicians who support minimum wage laws is commonplace. Legislative internships are common on the state and federal levels and regularly do not compensate at minimum wage levels. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has both supported higher minimum wage legislation, but yet paid her own interns less than the minimum wage.
I wonder how many Springfield politicians offer internships that don’t pay minimum wage.
Gov. Quinn should rethink his minimum wage position. Advocating for a higher minimum wage is a short-term political gimmick that does long-term detrimental harm to the people it pretends to help.