Minimum Wage Laws Harm the Poor

My apologies for poor source formatting in the second round; I ran out of characters. Rebuttals: A poor person who receives a wage increase from an increase in minimum wage will indeed have increased wealth. However, not all minimum wage workers will keep their jobs after a minimum wage increase. And for those who do, I would argue that minimum wage laws, while giving the illusion of necessity, often only serve to increase the wages of workers who would have seen their wages increase anyway. Talented workers (those least likely to lose, or not be able to find a job because of minimum wage laws) can receive wage increases through promotions, bonuses, or finding a higher paying job. In fact, supporters of minimum wage laws in the United States originally portrayed the minimum wage as a starting point from which employees would move upward, not a long term salary. We could create a Department of Candy, to teach children that candy tastes good. But it would be foolish to believe that children would not still enjoy candy if this department were abolished. Much of economics is counterintuitive. My opponent states that increases in minimum wage lead to increased unemployment among the poor because of the market economy. This is completely true, but I do not understand the point my opponent is trying to make, unless he is proposing doing away with the market economy, in which case the issue of minimum wage seems superfluous. My opponent states that "If the price of labor increases, the demand will decrease (fewer jobs) and the demand will increase (more people seeking jobs)." I assume that my opponent knows this, but just to clarify, demand for employees is NOT the same as demand for employment. Demand for employees is good for workers and is lowered by minimum wage laws. Demand for employment is bad for workers, and I argue that this demand is increased by minimum wage laws due to increases in unemployment. 1. How big is the increase in unemployment for poor families? This is difficult to measure because minimum wage laws have been in place in the United States for such a long time. However, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that an increase (remember, this is only an increase from existing minimum wage, it does not take into account the effects of having a minimum wage in the first place) in the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would decrease employment by approximately 500,000 workers. [1] In 2012, there were 1,600,000 workers earning the federal minimum wage. [2] People who lose or cannot find jobs due to minimum wage increases are those who are looking for minimum wage jobs, thus the vast majority of those 500,000 jobs will be taken out of the current 1,600,000 if the federal minimum wage is raised to $10.10 per hour. 2. What is the economic impact of increased unemployment for poor families? My opponent argues that policies that cause unemployment among the poor are not so bad, because those people can receive welfare. This argument confuses the issue. Welfare programs help the poor, this does not change the fact that minimum wage laws, in and of themselves, hurt the poor. 3. Do the possible negative economic impact of increased unemployment outweigh the positive economic impact of increased salaries for poor families? My opponent states that "only" 34% of economists believe that an increase in minimum wage would make it noticeably more difficult for low-skilled workers to find jobs. This is extremely misleading as this "only" 34% is greater than the percentage of economists who believe it would NOT be more difficult. (32%) There is no consensus among economists on this issue, but the most held opinion is that increasing the minimum wage WOULD cause difficulty to low-skilled workers. My opponent cites a survey indicating that 47% (I would not that this is not a majority) of economists believe that a $9 per hour minimum wage would be better than the current rate of $7.25. I think that this misses the point of this debate. The issue at hand is minimum wage, not an increase in it. Claiming that an increase in minimum wage would help the poor is very different from claiming that having a minimum wage law in the first place helps the poor. Minimum wage laws have created a system in which people are in jobs that do not necessarily correspond to their talents or skill level. Given this disordered status quo, very small upward adjustments in the minimum wage could theoretically help workers, but only because those workers are already in the wrong jobs. (e.g. people trying to raise families on fast-food jobs) Workers would be better off with a more functional system, without any minimum wage laws in the first place. Rebuttals to Rebuttals The opinions of some right wing economists are unrelated to the empirical issue of the effect of minimum wage laws on unemployment. My opponent argues that increased unemployment among teenagers is not a bad thing, because those jobs might be taken by poor adults. While I disagree with this view philosophically, I would also like to point out that unemployment among teenagers is only one particular example, showcasing the effects of minimum wage on low-skilled workers. The economic laws that apply to teenagers apply to all low-skilled workers, adult and otherwise. Also, teenage joblessness often inhibits social mobility. Sources: 1. http://cbo.gov... 2. http://www.bls.gov...