Minimum wage

Milton Friedman's argument, in your video, contains a major fallacy. Looking at the numbers, Friedman sees a correlation between minimum wage and a rise in teenage unemployment. From this he claims that one must've caused the other.First and foremost, let's get something straight. Whenever people talk about the unemployment rates in this country, the harm unemployment does to the economy, etc. THEY ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT TEENAGERS!! Looking at unemployment rates of teenagers is not what normal people do when they want to assess the societal effects of unemployment.Nevertheless, he sees that there is a correlation between teenage unemployment and a minimum wage. But anyone that has studied any scientific discipline knows that correlations DO NOT show causation. I.e. Just because both teenage unemployment and minimum wage increased together, this does not imply that one caused the other.I would say that a much more likely explanation is that our progress in society caused both. Our progress stopped places from paying slave wages to employees. Whether or not you think so, this is progress.What about teenage unemployment? How does progress explain this phenomenon? Quite simple actually. Back in the 1950's, going to college was not considered the norm. Now college enrollment is at an all time high.http://www.nytimes.com...Teenagers are no longer entering the workforce, not because of some minimum wage, but because they now attend college. This so-called "problem" with teenage unemployment is actually not a problem at all. It is progress. This is common sense to anyone nowadays. But back when this video was recorded, the college trend was just beginning. What is obvious today was not obvious back then. Friedman saw the correlation and assumed that minimum wage must've caused teenage unemployment. So when you say "The video is old, but the arguments are still the same" you are wrong. Today we understand the real reason why there is a rise in teenage unemployment. It is because more and more teenagers now attend college.On ImmigrationThe point you make on immigration will actually be true regardless of whether or not there is a minimum wage. Yes, someone now hired on the books must be paid minimum wage (usually). But there are also non-immigrants that work off the books. I've done it myself.Here is the problem. You claim that the teenager will only work for minimum wage, but an illegal immigrant will do it for less. This may be true, but does a minimum wage stop that? I think not.If there is no minimum wage, you think "we could compete with these immigrants more easily because you don't have to pay me more [than] what I'm worth." What you must understand is that even without a minimum wage, we would see a similar trend. When the employer starts bargaining on a price for a menial job, I guarantee that the illegal immigrant will still outbid the teenager and do the job for less. Minimum wage or no minimum wage, the illegal immigrant is sure to say that he will do it for less pay.So the point that immigrants now work for less is a moot point. They will always work for less, regardless of the presence or absence of a minimum wage.Some of Friedman's Other PointsFriedman claims that minimum wage will stop an employer from hiring unskilled workers. But in the real world, the unskilled labor is still needed.If you need someone to sweep up, mop up, and clean the toilets, a minimum wage won't change the fact that you need someone for these duties. These are not duties that you can give to a manager or someone higher up. Whatever the minimum wage may be, someone will still have to be hired to sweep, mop and clean toilets.With minimum wage, you are not going to hire someone with a better resume who you think is "worth" the minimum wage rate. This is for the simple reason that someone with the better resume is not going to apply to this position. The only people that will apply are people that are "unskilled." So the choice is to hire them at minimum wage, or leave the place filthy.All minimum wage does is ensure that these "unskilled" workers do not work for next to nothing. The labor is still required, and because of that, employers cannot take advantage of the less educated employees.Minimum Wage BenefitsMinimum wage helps lower income families by reducing their struggle. It doesn't lift them out of poverty, but it does make things easier.In poorer communities, the presence of a minimum wage ensures that the low wage workers spend a bit more at local businesses AND rely less on social assistance.Minimum wage helps tax payers in general. Government assistant programs add to the tax bill. Minimum wage is a way to help the working poor without adding anything to the tax bill.In essence, minimum wage is a good thing. It prevents unfairness and slave wages for unskilled laborers. And the points raised against a minimum wage all contain flawed logic.