| There's plenty of evidence for what I said if you look.[1] France is basically a socialist country, so there is a lot more going on there other than minimum wage. It's difficult to compare with other countries, because there are different tax rates and other social programs like free health Universal care that make the costs of being poor less. But within the U.S., minimum wage varies by state, right? So PA has a $7.25 minimum while CA has $9.00. What is the unemployment rate difference between those two states? Minimum wage has been increased dozens of times over the past few decades. There is ample history of what happens when it's increased, and I don't think there were massive layoffs every time it was increased in the past. Raising the minimum wage is an answer, because without a legal lower limit, there will always be an incentive for employers to pay less and less. It's like gravity. You need a floor to stop the fall. And then you can build up from there. If I can say, I don't think your statements about how easy it is to get a higher salary than minimum wage is correct for a lot of people. Perhaps you can't see yourself living at that level for too long, but there are plenty of people who work 2 and 3 jobs, hardly see their kids, are ruining their health, just to make ends meet. Can't call those people lazy. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage#Criticism_of_the_n... |
You have to remember than increasing the minimum wages won't necessarily have an impact if current wages are already higher than the new minimum wage.
I remember reading that the new $15/hr minimum wage in Seattle (which is being phased in) will have almost no impact at first since very few folks are paid less than the new minimum.