2 Although minimum wage campaigners exaggerate the balance of the literature, some studies have found that modest minimum wage hikes can have very small to no apparent negative direct effects on employment levels.
In his 2013 testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, University of Massachusetts economist Arindrajit Dube's first three arguments in favor of a federal minimum wage increase were that the minimum wage had not tracked the trend in aggregate labor productivity, rising living costs, or the path of median wages, respectively.
In testimony for state committees, David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute regularly documents how current minimum wage rates have not "Kept up" with average wages or economy-wide productivity levels and that minimum wages currently provide incomes for full-time workers below various poverty thresholds.
Although Dube stressed that he was not suggesting that the minimum wage be increased to that level, the comparison is clearly used to imply that the minimum wage could be increased significantly without adverse consequences.
Minimum wage hike proponents have a point that if one believes a federal minimum wage is necessary to solve a market failure, it should be set at the "Right" level to fix the failure in real terms.
Allowing the real minimum wage to fall by keeping its nominal value fixed is probably a more politically palatable tool than complete abolition of the minimum wage.
The metrics that $15 minimum wage advocates use to make the case for substantial minimum wage hikes are not, on their own, economically sensible benchmarks by which to set minimum wage rates.
https://www.cato.org/publications/economic-policy-brief/bad-economic-justifications-minimum-wage-hikes#full
In his 2013 testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, University of Massachusetts economist Arindrajit Dube's first three arguments in favor of a federal minimum wage increase were that the minimum wage had not tracked the trend in aggregate labor productivity, rising living costs, or the path of median wages, respectively.
In testimony for state committees, David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute regularly documents how current minimum wage rates have not "Kept up" with average wages or economy-wide productivity levels and that minimum wages currently provide incomes for full-time workers below various poverty thresholds.
Although Dube stressed that he was not suggesting that the minimum wage be increased to that level, the comparison is clearly used to imply that the minimum wage could be increased significantly without adverse consequences.
Minimum wage hike proponents have a point that if one believes a federal minimum wage is necessary to solve a market failure, it should be set at the "Right" level to fix the failure in real terms.
Allowing the real minimum wage to fall by keeping its nominal value fixed is probably a more politically palatable tool than complete abolition of the minimum wage.
The metrics that $15 minimum wage advocates use to make the case for substantial minimum wage hikes are not, on their own, economically sensible benchmarks by which to set minimum wage rates.
https://www.cato.org/publications/economic-policy-brief/bad-economic-justifications-minimum-wage-hikes#full
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