Can Minimum Wage Hike Ensure Jobs Don’t Disappear?

The WSJ’s “$15-an-Hour Minimum Wage Could Further Sting Teen Employment” gets it partly right in focusing on just the young.

Yes, “young people, who disproportionately lost jobs during the Covid-19 pandemic, could struggle to find jobs, but they may also see raises.” Yet, others badly needing those same jobs for various reasons (e.g., non-college, blue collar or unskilled adults, esp with families) may also LOSE the minimum wage jobs they have let alone struggle to replace them; moreover, even raising the MW from $7 bucks & change to $15 over a number of years will still NOT be a living wage.

The conundrum for policy wonks in both parties is real, both making good points for their opposite positions. All I know is, I could not have worked my way through college & law school without those lower paying jobs. Bottom line for the desperate, is that a higher paying job that doesn’t exist is no job.

Davd Soul