Why Minimum Wage Hurts the Economy

Introduction Hurts Economy Helps Economy

Introduction

• Raising the minimum wage destroys jobs, hurts the poor, keeps people on welfare, and encourages high school students to drop out of high school • It hurts exactly the workers that it intends to help – the poor, the unskilled, and the young • One survey indicated that 80% of Americans supported a higher minimum wage o Of those same respondents, less than half, approximately 46%, supported a higher minimum wage if it might reduce the number of jobs available for workers with limited skills • To get people out of poverty, we need a system that increases opportunities for low-skilled workers o Raising the minimum wage is the wrong solution for helping the poor, the unskilled, and the young