Economists took their challenge seriously and attempted to recreate their results. It could not be done. Economists who attempted to replicate their work demonstrated conclusively that raising the minimum wage destroys jobs. Because they recognize that Americans do not support proposals that destroy jobs. Proponents often like to show survey results that say more than eighty percent of Americans support a higher minimum wage.
Supporters claim that raising the minimum wage is important for working families.
Secretary of Labor Robert Reich often repeats the fact that forty percent of minimum wage workers are the sole source of income for their families. This is misleading because it relies on lumping single, non-family individuals with families. Minimum wage workers are not parents struggling to feed their children. Rather, they are high school or college students living at home. The level of the minimum wage is irrelevant for most people in poverty.