Rise in minimum wage hurts kids the most
Date published: 7/24/2008
Rise in minimum wage hurts kids the most
Unfortunately for young people, one of the prime causes of the declining summer job market for teenagers is mandated wage hikes ["Tightening job market toughest for teenagers," July 8].
According to economist David Neumark of the University of California at Irvine, for every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage, employment for high school dropouts and young black adults and teenagers falls by 8.5 percent.
In just the past few years, Virginia's minimum wage has increased 13 percent. And it will jump another 11 percent this month.
You don't need a business degree to understand why the wage hikes affect teen employment.
The classic summer jobs--cashier, restaurant waiter, and grocery clerk--can help an employer who has increased business or a need to cover for full-time employees taking vacations or sick leave.
But when government mandates add to labor costs by artificially boosting wages, employers are more likely to hold off on hiring people to fill such flexible slots.
Kristen Lopez Eastlick
Washington
The writer is an economic analyst with the Employment Policies Institute.
Date published: 7/24/2008
Most recent reader comments:
minimum wage
(posted by
theobc
, July 26, 2008 12:37 pm)
if the minimum wage is what the employer has to pay anyway, then how does a teen coming in to work the summer or temporarily replace a worker on vaction or sick leave be affected since the employer has to pay whomever is working the job the same pay? if the employer has to fill a position and the minimum wage is what he has to pay regardless of who is working the job be it a teen, retiree, or whatever.
oh no
(posted by
rwm1980
, July 25, 2008 11:34 pm)
I cannot stand to hear any one gripe about the fact that minimum wage has gone up it is still way to low! gas at 4.00 a gallon and milk at 5.00. minimum wage should set at 10.00 an hour even though that isnt even a livable wage these days!
biosco. you missed the point. It's not the opposition
(posted by
lifeisbeautiful
, July 25, 2008 7:24 am)
of CEO salaries that is comm (or rather socialism) it's
demanding to take that salary & redistribute it to others. Do
some CEO make too much? Sure, but do I have the right to
demand their salaries be given to the less fortunate, no.
What f you made more than I? Do I have the right to come
in to your home & take your food or drive your car? Hell no.
Being rich is not bad. Being greedy is as well as taking
what's not rightfully yours.
I didn't even think that
(posted by
Ron_C
, July 24, 2008 10:06 pm)
the fast food joints around here could find "legal" employees that would work for Minimum Wage these days.
Biosco, I wouldn't say that opposing
(posted by
Ron_C
, July 24, 2008 10:02 pm)
Massive CEO salary's is necessariy communist, expecting or wanting the goverment to redistribute their salarys, that is communist. I would suppose that ase a stockholder in a company voting for reducing the compensation offered to a CEO to allow the funds to be available to increase compensation to the workers to improve morale and thereby productivity is capitalist. Voting a big bonus to the CEO that lead the company into bankruptcy is a betrayal of the BODs responsibility to the stockholders and employees
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