There was a 
great editorial in the WSJ over the weekend,
taking a look at what a disastrous impact the minimum wage hike is having on
employment numbers for teenagers. The
rate went up to $7.25 in July, and just as economists predicted, the results
were immediate. In just 2 months, 330,000 teen jobs were lost as the
unemployment rate for that group reached 25.9%--that’s the highest rate since
World War II! Hit worst? Young black males. Their unemployment rate is an unthinkable 50.4%. Have you heard liberals talking about
this? Nope. The facts would just get in
the way, undermining one of their favorite and most economically inane ideas.
Economists nationwide understand the negative impact of
raising the minimum wage on workers. But
guess who else understood it?
ACORN. Yes, you read
correctly. While helping to ram through
living wage laws in cities across the country, ACORN sued the state of California
in 1995 in an effort to be exempted from its minimum wage requirement. It argued, as do many businesses, that it
would be able to hire fewer workers if it had to pay them more. Almost comically, it also argued that "A
person paid limited sums of money will be in a better position to empathize
with and relate to the low and moderate membership and constituency of
ACORN."
I’ll stick with the economists on this one: raising the
minimum wage means fewer jobs. Plain and
simple. And those workers with the least experience, meaning the youngest, will
be the first to go.
