Trusters of government rarely think beyond what Thomas Sowell calls “Stage One.”
The District of Columbia–like many regions of the United States–has recently enacted an increased minimum wage for all D.C. workers. Employers must pay them $11.50 per hour. You know, . . . to help the poor.
It seems the minimum wage increase has caused a 3 % drop in D.C. restaurant employment. 1,400 jobs have been lost.
Nearby Maryland and Virginia, with lower minimum wages ($8.75 and $7.25 respectively), have seen increases in fast food employment during the same period.
Higher unemployment rates are linked to numerous social ills, including lifetime and household poverty, illness, admissions to psychiatric facilities, domestic violence and homicide.
