Expect Unemployment to Rise

In the unskilled labor sector anyway. CNN reports that the minimum wage is scheduled to increase in eight states. This means, of course, that it will make unskilled labor more expensive to hire for businesses. For those workers who do not generate enough income for their firms, they will be let go, adding to our nation's unemployment woes.

Some might argue that increased wages is just what the laboring poor need. While that sentiment is certainly understandable, the problem is that higher legal minimum wages make it harder to employ these very people. That is the main reason why the minimum wage does not reduce poverty. Those interested in more on the issue of the minimum wage might be interested in a piece I wrote a few years ago, "What You Need to Know About the Minimum Wage."