Studies have shown....
30 May 2006
Editor, The Boston Globe
Dear Editor:
Yolanda Ostolaza justifies raising the minimum wage by saying that "studies have shown that a higher minimum wage does not cost jobs" (Letters, May 30). Indeed so - just as studies have shown that tobacco use poses no health risks and that the fossil record disproves the theory of natural selection.
The overwhelming majority of studies of the effects of minimum-wage legislation find that such legislation harms low-skilled workers, not only by eliminating jobs for many of these workers, but also by reducing their access to on-the-job training and fringe benefits and by promoting discrimination in hiring and firing.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Boston Globe
Dear Editor:
Yolanda Ostolaza justifies raising the minimum wage by saying that "studies have shown that a higher minimum wage does not cost jobs" (Letters, May 30). Indeed so - just as studies have shown that tobacco use poses no health risks and that the fossil record disproves the theory of natural selection.
The overwhelming majority of studies of the effects of minimum-wage legislation find that such legislation harms low-skilled workers, not only by eliminating jobs for many of these workers, but also by reducing their access to on-the-job training and fringe benefits and by promoting discrimination in hiring and firing.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Thursday March 15, 2007 at 6:32am