In this Daily Tar Heel.com story, JLF’s Roy Cordato explains why raising the minimum wage may sound like compassionate policy, but in reality, raising the minimum wage can hurt the very people supporters say they want to help.
Still, Arie Wolf, a December UNC graduate who earns $8.25 an hour, said an increase wouldn’t change his work habits.
“I’d be happy, because I’d be getting more money for the same work,” he said.
But Roy Cordato, vice president for research at the right-leaning John Locke Foundation, pointed out that an increase in minimum wage could lead to a rise in unemployment, especially among teenagers.
“What the minimum wage does is it puts a padlock on the entryway to the labor market for a lot of people — they tend to be teenaged workers, especially black teenage workers, high school dropouts and people with very low skill,” he said.
And yet, progressives — led by President Obama — are intent on doing this very thing.
The executive order might help spur legislators to pass an across-the-board increase, said Rob Schofield, policy director of the left-leaning think tank N.C. Policy Watch.
“It’s a great step in the right direction,” he said.
How sad for the folks who will be hurt.
