A recent commentary by Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany urges lawmakers to increase New York's minimum wage by more than 17 percent, claiming that it will create more jobs ("Give workers the just wages they deserve," Nov. 19). Yet, evidence shows the actual effects of such a mandate are exactly the opposite.
Businesses that hire entry-level employees and pay them minimum wage — think restaurants or grocery stores — keep a few cents in profit from each sales dollar and can't just absorb the cost of a mandated wage hike. When they can't raise prices on cost-conscious customers, they're forced to do more with less: That means more customer self-service and fewer job opportunities for inexperienced employees.
The evidence overwhelmingly backs up this intuition, most credible economic research from the last two decades points to job loss, not creation, following a wage hike.
Michael Saltsman
Research Fellow, Employment Policies Institute
Washington, D.C.