By Selwyn Duke

In another example of turning lemonade into lemons in economically
troubled times, the federal minimum wage increased yesterday from $6.55
an hour to $7.25 an hour. It's certainly a fashionable measure, but
will it actually improve the lot of low-income workers?

Let's first discuss what the minimum wage is not. It's not something
that's constitutional for the federal government to set; such power
rightly resides with the states, depending on each state's
constitution. It's also not, contrary to the usual narrative, something
on which many millions of Americans must support families. In fact,
only about three percent of the workforce earns minimum wage; moreover,
a majority of this population comprises the very young and those who
are not primary breadwinners. For example, the Heritage Foundation tells us,
"Over half (53 percent) are teenagers or young adults under the age of
23. More than half (54 percent) of these young workers live in families
with incomes two or more times the official poverty level for their
family size and 18 percent live in poor families…. Less than 21
percent of minimum wage workers are the sole breadwinners of their
families and less than 5 percent are sole breadwinners that work
full-time year-round. Less than 5 percent of minimum wage workers are
poor single mothers over 18 years old."

Read the rest here.