Minimum Wage: Bad for Humans, Good for Robots
Outlawing cheap labor comes with a lot of disastrous consequences.
Some of America's largest cities are ratcheting minimum wage up, while progressive luminaries are calling to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Only evil people would oppose this, right?
Unless…That's what the robots want us to think?
When the government uses minimum wage laws to abolish cheap labor, it makes employees more expensive. Intentions aside, this compels businesses to reduce hours, lay off employees, or automate them to save on costs. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that raising the minimum wage to a mere $10.10 per hour would result in half a million people losing their jobs.
In the latest Mostly Weekly Andrew Heaton explores the minimum wage, and why the feel-good legislation comes with disastrous effects.
Mostly Weekly is hosted by Andrew Heaton with headwriter Sarah Rose Siskind. Watch past episodes here.
Script by Andrew Heaton with writing assistance from Sarah Rose Siskind and David Fried
Edited by Austin Bragg and Sarah Rose Siskind.
Produced by Meredith and Austin Bragg.
Theme Song: Frozen by Surfer Blood.