Sunday, December 22, 2013

Minimum wage increase -- not a job-killer, as Republicans claim

As reported by the Huffington Post a few days ago: 
Raising the minimum wage would help the working poor and give the entire economy a boost, a new analysis finds.

If the minimum wage rose to $10.10 per hour, as Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama propose, 27.8 million workers would see their wages go up as a direct or indirect result of the boost, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank.

These workers would take home about $35 billion in additional wages and they would probably spend it, as low-income people living with little financial cushion cushion tend to do. 

The result: During the initial phase-in period, the U.S. economy would grow by about $22 billion, EPI found. The growth in the U.S. economy would result in about 85,000 new jobs, according to EPI.

That counters arguments from conservative economists that raising the minimum wage could actually hurt the working poor by making employers hesitant to hire more workers. . . .
I read an article recently that offered scientific evidence that political ideology is partly influenced by genes.    I find that easy to believe, since otherwise intelligent people seem utterly immune cognitively to arguments that seem so logical and simple to me.    This is one of those.

Ralph

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