The Minimum wage is a truly Bad Idea

The Congress had passed several laws regarding economic policies and issues and the raising the minimum wage was one of them. However, according to Donald Lambro in his article entitled “The Minimum Wage is a Truly Bad Idea”, this law had unintended negative consequences. Although it was intended to help workers, it does not create employment for those workers and on the contrary, it reduces employment as Lambro stated. Different researches also support Lambro’s argument. According to a non profit research organization, the Employment Policies Institute, for every 10% increase in the minimum wage, unemployment rise at a very high rate: 3.9% among minorities, 4.9% among Hispanics, 6.6% on teenage minorities, 8.4% on African Americans and 8% unemployment increase among low-skilled workers.

Thus, minimum wages truly have a great impact especially among low-skilled workers as stated by Dr. David Neumark, who conducted the study. James Sherk, a labor policy analyst also supported this argument through his own study. He suggested that, “Raising the minimum wage reduces many workers’ job opportunities and working hours” (Sherk qtd in Lambro, no date). Sherk also stated that a 10% increase in the minimum wage will mean a 2% decrease of employment in affected groups thus; a $7.25 increase in the minimum wage would cost about 8% of unemployment in the said group.

On the other hand, the Hoover Institution claimed that around 20% or 1.6 million workers are likely to lose their jobs if there are no tax cuts especially for small businesses. Due to the minimum wage, employers are finding ways to lessen the number of employees needed in doing a particular job such as the use of different machines which is evident in the contemporary time. Thus, the author concluded that we do not need a higher minimum wage in order to have a better economy and increase in employment but rather, what we need is a clean tax-cut bill that will create higher-paying jobs for all Americans.

            It can be said that the article have strong arguments that were supported by facts and are accepted by different persons and organizations of the field. The studies that had been included in the article really establish the credibility of the article adding the fact that the researchers and organizations involved are also respected and credible enough to make such comments.

Thus, the author really does a good job in making the article believable enough to be accepted by the readers. The higher the minimum wage would really mean that the company has to reduce employees to accommodate the increase as well as to cut worker’s working hours. However, there are also some parts wherein the author’s intention and credibility would be questioned especially his intention in writing the article, what the author really want to convey?  Is this really an economic issue or is there something else?

            The word “Democrat” had been used twice in the article stating that the minimum wage (which causes unemployment based on the article) was proposed by the Democrats. Although the word “Republican” was never used in the text, the conclusion of the author suggested that the views and beliefs of the Democrats are wrong, that minimum wage reduces employment while tax-cuts would really increase the employment of American citizens.

Thus, the article does not really tackle economic issues but rather, political; the continuous battle between Democrats and Republicans. Linking the article to political issues really created doubts in the credibility of the author and of the article in general. Although the author have solid proofs regarding his claim, it will not be that effective since politics had been involved. It was just hard to change people’s minds especially when it comes to their political beliefs. Thus, by incorporating political views and beliefs, the writer loses his credibility and created doubts and issues in the minds of the readers.

Work Cited

Lambro, D. (No date). The minimum wage is a truly bad idea.