October 1, 2006
Minimum Wage Wars Posted by Joshua Zeitz at 09:00 PM EST I should be loath to position myself between Fred Smoler, who has made an informed and nuanced argument in favor of the minimum wage, and John Steele Gordon, who has flailed his arms (rhetorically speaking) and who, with his normal thin skin and penchant for drama, has taken extreme umbrage at the mere suggestion that his argument doesn’t add up, but who still feels pretty comfortable calling names and taking pot shots. But, why not? I’m a sucker for a good argument. Mr. Gordon writes: “To prove his point [Fred Smoler] produces modern studies that purport to show that minimum-wage hikes do not cause a net loss of jobs under current American conditions and, for all I know, they prove exactly that. I reply, there’s a guy down the street who just lost his job because his boss can’t afford to pay the new minimum wage, and a million like him elsewhere.” To which, I reply: which guy? Show me a study. Give me a name. Stop writing in vast generalities. Where’s your evidence? I have no doubt that someone, somewhere, has produced a study showing that the federal minimum wage has cost certain workers their jobs. But Mr. Gordon prefers invective to reasoned argument. If he has some counter-evidence to challenge or contradict Fred Smoler’s argument, he should produce it. If he doesn’t, it’s time to move on. I happen to agree with Fred Smoler, insofar as I understand his argument that the government should concern itself with net job gains and losses. Where environmental or wage policies cost specific people their jobs, the government can and should introduce any variety of compensatory measures to provide job training, education, and relocation funds to displaced workers. This is what the Kennedy administration did when it pushed through legislation to help displaced workers in Appalachia find new jobs and develop new skills. It’s a tradition rooted firmly in economic opportunity theory, which presupposes that an economy as vibrant as America’s requires growth and adjustments, rather than a wholesale redistribution of income and assets. But it’s worth reiterating: The minimum wage has lost 20 percent of its real value since it was last raised in 1997. How many businesses have really been shut down because they can’t afford to pay their workers $5.15 an hour? I’d genuinely like to know, and I’m waiting for Mr. Gordon to tell me.
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