So what is the big deal about Libertarians and their issue on the minimum wage? The minimum wage is good right? It guarantees people a certain wage that seems "sustainable." It seems pretty fair and the only people it affects are the low-income workers anyway right? Wrong! Minimum Wage does more harm than good.
For example, you are an unskilled worker. You desperately need a job so that you can learn some type of skill to potentially earn more. You apply for a job doing...let's say entry-level computer work. Assume that you have no prior knowledge of computers. Well, at any cost you would like to take this job because you will be trained to learn a valuable skill. You and the employer then bring a salary figure to the table. Once negotiation is over you get hired for $3.00/hr.
OMG! How are you going to pay your bills??? Here is where there is a common error in thinking. The employee and employer set the wage. Obviously the person was not worth more than $3.00/hr. The free market has decided that the wage was $3.00/hr. This was acceptable to the employee otherwise he would not have taken the job had he thought he was worth more.
Let's apply this to todays standards, the same worker would not have the job because it is illegal to hire a worker for under the minimum wage. In addition, the worker is unemployed, without skills, unable to better himself and to increase his earning potential due to the minimum wage. Taxpayers are now paying for him to be at a standstill with unemployment or other social programs rather than him increasing his earning potential by learning a trade at $3.00/hr. Not to mention, because of the minimum wage the employer has to charge more for his product to compensate for the minimum wage requirements that the government had set. Is it Government's role to control the wages that private businesses offer to their employees???
Here, read up on some articles and you might learn something.
The Minimum Wage: Washingtons Perennial Myth
Enlightened Altruism
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