3-07-09 Update: The Teen Unemployment rate is now at a 17 year high, at 21.6 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Research from the University of Georgia found that for every 10 increase in minimum wage, there is a decrease of up to 9% in teenage employment.
6-19-08: As you know, I adamantly opposed a minimum wage hike last year because history shows us a minimum wage hike costs jobs of the very people it is intended to help. Employers have to cut somewhere and the first to go are the young, minimum paid workers. Did that happen?
The Federal Govt passed a wage hike and not long after, unemployment began to rise. Coincidence? Look at who is filing for unemployment. According to Dr. Mark Perry, professor of economics at University of Michigan, unemployment increased a whopping 3.3% for 16 to 24 year olds, putting them at nearly 19% unemployed! Compare that to 25 and over who have seen virtually no increase in unemployment -- only .2% with a healthy 4.1% unemployed overall.
That's not the bad news: The minimum wage is set to rise twice more in the next year -- a 24% increase and the largest in history. The next President is going to have lots of young unemployed workers to deal with.
Maybe he can blame it on global warming ...
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