Ever wonder why unions care so much about the minimum wage when almost all union members get paid above that level? The answer is simply, but sleazy. As Walter Williams explains, they want to protect their high-pay status by increasing the cost of lower-skilled workers. For all intents and purposes, they are pricing poor people out of the job market:
Labor unions are the major supporters of increases in the minimum wage. Even though the overwhelming majority of their members earn multiples of the minimum wage, they spend millions upon millions lobbying for minimum wage increases. They do it because higher minimum wages protect their members from competition with low-skill, low-wage workers. Most other minimum wage supporters are decent people with a concern for low-wage workers, but their actions suffer from a misguided vision of how the world operates.
[…] as unions urge higher minimum-wage mandates in order to undermine competition from other […]
[…] economic liberty, so I’ve written on why government-mandated wages can create unemployment by making it unprofitable to hire people with low work skills and/or poor work histories. And I’ve attacked Republicans for going along with these job-killing policies, and also pointed […]
[…] economic liberty, so I’ve written on why government-mandated wages can create unemployment by making it unprofitable to hire people with low work skills and/or poor work histories. And I’ve attacked Republicans for going along with these job-killing policies, and also […]
[…] economic liberty, so I’ve written on why government-mandated wages can create unemployment by making it unprofitable to hire people with low work skills and/or poor work histories. And I’ve attacked Republicans for going along with these job-killing policies, and also pointed […]
[…] economic liberty, so I’ve written on why government-mandated wages can create unemployment by making it unprofitable to hire people with low work skills and/or poor work histories. And I’ve attacked Republicans for going along with these job-killing policies, and also pointed […]
[…] and I’ve written on several occasions why government-mandated wages can create unemployment by making it unprofitable to hire people with low work skills and/or poor work histories. And I’ve attacked Republicans for going along with these job-killing policies, and also pointed […]
[…] and I’ve written on several occasions why government-mandated wages can create unemployment by making it unprofitable to hire people with low work skills and/or poor work histories. And I’ve attacked Republicans for going along with these job-killing policies, and also pointed […]
[…] and I’ve written on several occasions why government-mandated wages can create unemployment by making it unprofitable to hire people with low work skills and/or poor work histories. And I’ve attacked Republicans for going along with these job-killing policies, and also pointed […]
[…] and I’ve written on several occasions why government-mandated wages can create unemployment by making it unprofitable to hire people with low work skills and/or poor work histories. And I’ve attacked Republicans for going along with these job-killing policies, and also pointed […]
[…] (see here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), in large part because he’s so good at explaining economic concepts, but also because […]
I have never heard of such an ignorant statement.I have an adopted son from South America. He came over when he was 11 years old and now he is 20 years old. He works at a sports store making 8 dollars an hour. We were watching the news one day last week when an individual mentioned that we need to get rid of minmum wage to create jobs. He asked me, “how will that create jobs”? I told him that the theory was that if the sports store could pay you less, they would hire someone to help you. I know that he may not be the smartest person, but after a couple seconds he looked at me and said,” no they wouldn’t, they would just pay me less”. Isn’t it amazing that a kid that has been here for 9 years has more sense than our leadership in this country.
[…] and I’ve written on several occasions why government-mandated wages can create unemployment by making it unprofitable to hire people with low work skills and/or poor work histories. And I’ve attacked Republicans for going along with these job-killing policies, and also pointed […]
[…] I’ve written on several occasions why government-mandated wages can create unemployment by making it unprofitable to hire people with low work skills and/or poor work histories. And I’ve attacked Republicans for going along with these job-killing policies, and also […]
minimum wage is exactly that… MINIMUM. If you are working at minimum wage then you should be able to have minimum living conditions. Small apartment, bike / buss / overused car to work, etc, etc, etc. The owner of the business that you whine about has spent many, many, many more hours working for that business and grinding away until it got to the point that it was able to hire YOU. You were driving a freakin car. A 16yr old with 10 min behind a wheel could have done your job, and you cry because you couldn’t do that and by a freakin house? are you kidding me? are you that stupid? omfg. I’ve been working in a trade for 11 years and I just FINALLY (after school, and state certification exams) got into a pay grade that is comfortable for my family and I. Get over yourself, panzy and actually work for something.
Get a new job or become a “greedy owner” yourself. Refuse to be a victim!
I use to work for minimum wage for three years, risking my life delivering cars for a local auto auction. The greedy Owner would makew over one humdred million dollars a year, yet would never give a resonable pay raise (only .10 cents when I was making only $6.75 hr in 2007 after 3 years of hard work).
I wish people like you and that greedy owner would relize that all most poor people realy want is to make a large enough money so they can buy a home, provide for a family and contribute to their society.
When a person makes only 7.75hr or less in some cases, that person can not buy products like new cars and new homes. When the person can not contribute to the ecomony, The producers who make the homes or cars has no chooise but stop making those products.
In closing I wish to ask you how would you feel If your hard work was to go unrewarded and the employer makes millions if not billions. Would you not feel cheated if some one got an award for some thing for something you worked hard to create and the recipant refused to acknollege your contribution. That I how I felt after working at That Auto Auction I use to work at for three years.
[…] put so much muscle behind lobbying campaigns for higher minimum wages? The answer is simple. As Walter Williams has explained, unions want to make it more expensive for employers to hire other forms of labor. For all intents […]