Bit of discussion on my Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce site; we're raising the minimum wage to $7.65 in 2012.
You'd think, in a time of high unemployment, we'd try to make lower skilled and entry level employees more affordable to employers, so more folks might be hired. Even in times of high employment, whenever we raise the minimum wage, unemployment among youth, the unskilled, and some minorities spikes.
We also do quite an effective job of keeping people unemployed by requiring state licensing (involving extensive training and fees) for one to enter a great many catagories of employment. As just one example, in Arizona one has to pay for and complete some 400 classroom hours of training, pass exams and pay fees, to become a barber. Multiply that by hundreds of occupations and professions, and by 50 states. With high barriers to enter many occupations, high "structural" unemployment becomes understandable.
On the other hand, a higher legal minimum wage, and tighter legal restrictions on who can hold jobs, do make illegal employment much more attractive, to both employer and employee (particlularly in fields like janitorial, and in border states like Arizona...). This should help job creation among those undocumented immigrants whom we've recently decided not to deport. Always a silver lining.
Bob, trust you to get to the heart of the matter with humor. Good luck w/your officials. Sounds like you need it.
Posted by: Marla Hughes | 11/20/2011 at 07:50 AM
As the playwright would tell you, it's a fine line that seperates comedy from tragedy.
Posted by: Bob Croft | 11/20/2011 at 11:20 AM