Minimum-Wage Laws Are Ruining Lives

Let’s say you're an employer, and a minimum wage law requires you to pay employees at least $8 an hour.

A kid seeks a job. He lacks the skills needed in your business and, at least at the beginning, he's unlikely to show up reliably for work.

You like the kid, and you're re willing to pay him $4 an hour. Not $8, however. You figure the fellow can work two jobs. You didn't start a business to lose money.

Because of minimum wage, you have to turn him down. He doesn’t learn work skills. He doesn’t learn to get to work on time and to respect supervisors. The first rung of the ladder of success is right in front of him, but the government prevents him from stepping on it. He could remain a failure for life.

The unemployment rate for U.S. teens is 26 percent. The unemployment rate for black U.S. teens is 50 percent. Minimum-wage laws are ruining untold numbers of lives.