Minimum Wage Victims

According to one survey, 90 percent of economists agree raising the minimum wage costs jobs. Yet President Bill Clinton is proposing to increase the minimum wage by another dollar, after increasing it from $4.25 to $5.15 over the past two years.

Economists say that in a growing economy, when employment is increasing, minimum wage hikes mean fewer net new jobs will be created than would have otherwise been.

Other studies affirm this fact. Charles Brown of the University of Michigan cites 19 studies between 1970 and 1991 and concludes "a 10-percent increase in the minimum wage reduced teen employment by one to three percent." Using labor department data, the Employment Policies Institute found that since the last minimum wage increase there has been 128,000 fewer teen jobs.