President Biden ’s Minimum Wage Proposal

Chris EdwardsAs part of his $1.9 trillion relief plan, President Joe Bidenproposes to double the federal minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour.If enacted, the higher mandated wage would eliminate jobs for younger and less ‐​skilled workers. In 2019,58 percent of minimum wage workers were age 24 or younger. Biden ’s websitesays that he wants to create jobs for young people to “reach full employment as fast as possible,” but his minimum wage plan would do the opposite. Young people need entry‐​level jobs to start climbing the career ladder but raising the minimum wage would break the bottom steps.A minimum wage increase would also damage labor ‐​intensive small businesses. Biden’s websitepromises: “Building back better means helping small businesses and entrepreneurs come out the other side of this crisis strong … Biden will help small businesses manage through the pandemic and recover.” But Biden’s minimum wage plan would do the opposite, and it would be very ill‐​timed as small businesses have been hit hard by the crisis.FederalismMinimum wages are set higher than the federal minimum in29 states and dozens of cities and counties. The highest state rate is Washington State ’s at $13.69 an hour.All 50 states could impose a $15 rate on their own. A small number are phasing that rate in, but most are not. There is no reason to think that federal politicians have better judgment than state politicians on this matter, so there is no...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs