<p>You mean the thoroughly discredited study that relied on phoning up managers of the fast food companies that had stayed in business after the hike and asking them whether they had more or less employees (instead of hours worked)? A few dodgy studies here and there refuting what every other study in economic history has had to say about the issue hardly “refutes” the very sound economic logic behind the idea that a price floor results in an artificial surplus. The fact that many if not most minimum wage laws are set a little below or a little above the equilibrium point (for the existing supply of labor) helps to hide the resulting increase in surplus labor (i.e. a ten percent hike only resulting in a one percent dip in employment).</p>
<p>The real minimum wage is zero, those whose productivity falls between zero and the minimum wage are made legally unemployable. Ex-cons, the mentally handicapped, minorities from impoverished neighborhoods, people from broken homes, the very young who have no work ethic yet, etc., are the hardest hit by minimum wage laws. The last job I had, a job training program for the mentally ■■■■■■■■, could have been made obsolete by abolishing the minimum wage and making the people in question actually employable, albeit at a low rate to start. But it’s better than languishing in a glorified baby-sitting program for their whole lives.</p>