Minimum Wage Sense

I always use the following economics 101 arguments when discussing raising the minimum wage:

• At the very least, increased wages will only increase the cost of goods for everyone and therefore negate the intended benefit to those working for minimum wage, which is to increase their purchasing power.
• Some businesses, however, may not have the luxury of simply raising their prices.
• Those businesses will be forced to either stop hiring - definitely a bad thing.
• Or, they will be forced to reduce their profit (I know that's a bad word for some people).
• Some businesses operate on a very thin profit margin. They may actually be forced to close their doors.

But Betsy Newmark has a great post that adds some very good information on the subject. I really hadn't appreciated just who it is, exactly, that works for minimum wage. I guess I just accepted the inference that it was poor people trying to raise a family on low wages.

Maybe, as with most subjects, there's more to it than that.