Socialists and government trusters are seeing all of their proposed policy ideas implemented in Venezuela. And the results are predictable. The South American socialist regime has driven out most productive industries. Inflation is way above 200 percent. Starvation and disease are rampant. Basic commodities cannot be found. Millions have fled. Men die in brutal fights …
Category: Minimum Wage Laws
Aug 27
Only 19 percent of wage gains from minimum wage increases go to families in poverty
Trusters of government often claim that government-imposed minimum wages help the poor. But research has shown that minimum wage laws harm the poor by completely locking them out of the bottom rungs of the economy. Minimum wage laws cause unemployment rates to increase, especially among the poorest and most desperate Americans. Only 19 percent of …
Aug 09
Venezuelan minimum wage was raised 108,000 % in 20 years, yet today, “Anyone in Venezuela would be happy to eat out of American trashcans”
Venezuelan economist Raefael Acevedo recently addressed the Mises Institute. See here. Between 1999 and 2017, said Acevedo, the Venezuelan minimum wage was raised 38 times: a 108,000 % increase. Yet “[a]nyone in Venezuela would be happy to eat out of American trashcans.”
Jul 05
Seattle’s experiment with the $15 minimum wage results in greater poverty, unemployment
Three years ago, the city of Seattle voted to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour. As usual, government-trusters promised that the minimum-wage increase would lift the poor out of poverty. But a new study by the University of Washington’s School of Public Policy and Governance finds the opposite. The study concludes that there …
Apr 16
San Diego spikes minimum wage; 4,000 restaurant jobs lost almost immediately
When the price of any commodity rises, demand falls. This iron law of economics applies even to labor. Advocates of minimum wage laws (which allow government rather than the market to set wages) believe in a fantasy: that when politicians order wages to increase they are helping poor people. The reality is precisely the opposite. …
Aug 27
D.C. Minimum Wage Hike has already Cost 1,400 Jobs
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 …
Apr 18
UC Berkeley Forced to Cut 500 Jobs After $15 Minimum Wage Hike
More than 100 peer-reviewed studies have found that increasing (or establishing) a minimum wage law causes higher unemployment. Unemployment, in turn, is correlated with a number of measures of social ills, including increased suicide rates, rates of first admission to mental health facilities and rates of alcoholism. Now, just weeks after the State of California …
Jan 21
Walmart losing millions, closing stores where minimum-wage laws are harshest
In case anyone needed further evidence that minimum-wage laws create unemployment, here is another story about Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart once had a thriving business model. It offered cheap goods at a central location. But Wal-Mart has come under attack from anti-business voices for years. In response, Wal-Mart has increased its pay rates for its labor (which …
Dec 15
Wal-Mart Shares Plummet 30 % after Company Hikes Wages
Years of criticism and attacks have taken their toll on Wal-Mart. “Back in February, CEO Doug McMillon of Wal-Mart agreed to raise his company’s pay for entry-level employees to almost $9 an hour come April and up to $10 early the year after.” See here. Announcing the company’s third-quarter results in November, Mr. McMillon had …
Oct 27
Union loudly pushes $15 minimum wage–then quietly seeks its own “exemption” from its impacts!
Socialists and trusters of central planning are notorious hypocrites. But here is a story about the AFL-CIO that “takes the cake.” The AFL-CIO loudly promotes raising minimum wages around the country. (Some 100 peer-reviewed economic studies have established that raising (or imposing) a minimum wage is linked with higher unemployment rates–especially for those at the …
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