Do We Need a Higher Minimum Wage?

Nonemployment Rates Among

People Age 25 to 34 in 2011

nonemployment rates

Source: The New York Times.

Comments (15)

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  1. Studebaker says:

    The other day I read a comment on two-income families arguing the reason working mothers “had to work” was the lack of “affordable day care,” and the lack of a “livable wage”. Ignoring for the moment that mandating livable wages makes daycare unaffordable, (and stay-at-home moms don’t really need daycare) mandating higher wages for marginal workers makes more of marginal workers unaffordable to employers. Livable wages require skills. Young people must either get them in school, or get them on the job. Without that first bad job, young people with modest skills are unlikely to advance in the workforce into better-paying jobs.

  2. JD says:

    That is an incredible statistic. These are people that should be spending this time developing their value in a field. This stagnation will follow them the rest of their lives.

    • JD says:

      It would be interesting to know how this number is skewed. Is it mostly 25 year olds or are many people stagnating into their 30’s? Also, are these the same people or is it largely people revolving in and out so that a given individual doesn’t spend much time here?

  3. Cabaret says:

    ACA insurance requirements also are pushing up nonemployment.

  4. Tim says:

    It is a troubling time to be a young professional and if things keep up this way, it’ll be even worse for the next generation.

  5. Sam says:

    Great, the most able body Americans are unable to gain experience and contribute to the workforce because they cannot find jobs.

    • Jordan says:

      Is it really that they can’t find jobs? Or is it that they have a misplaced sense of entitlement and refuse to accept jobs that are beneath them?

      Underemployed is better than nonemployed.

  6. William Jones says:

    No we absolutely don’t need a higher minimum wage. Minimum wage is the reason why U.S. companies don’t hire a lot of worker…because they can’t pay them.

    • Joe says:

      Many businesses are sitting on mountains of cash after this last years earnings, it’s the tax environment, and Obamacare that is keeping people from getting jobs. Businesses are prepping themselves to lay-off workers, because of the insurance payments they are going to have to make.

    • Tim says:

      Minimum wage is the reason U.S. companies don’t hire a lot of workers?? I’m sorry, but there are far greater reasons why companies aren’t hiring.

  7. Nigel says:

    The reason we have such high unemployment is the regulatory environment of the united states discriminates against business growth. “Employers are particularly reluctant to add new workers…”, this mainly stems from the massive amount of red tape they have to sort through to expand their business.

  8. Craig says:

    It is certainly a rough time to be young professional, but if the government can pass some tax reform and regulatory reform, young workers will have a chance.

    • diogenes says:

      With an unemployment rate half the national average, how can you say it’s “a rough time to be a young professional”. It’s a rough time to be a young high school graduate.

  9. Jack says:

    Hah if they passed significant tax reform it would just put all of those seasonal workers out of a job. IRS Slogan: Obfuscate, Discriminate, Audit..ate…!

    Complicated tax structures, they keep people employed.

  10. Buster says:

    The official unemployment rate for 25- to 34-year-old college graduates remains just 3.3 percent.

    This is an astonishing statistic. More than one-quarter of Americans age 25-34 are unemployed. But only 3.3 percent of college educated adults age 25-34 are unemployed.

    There are several lessons here. One lesson is the importance that young people get an education or some type of job training. Another important lesson is raising the minimum wage will likely hurt those it’s designed to help!

    A final observation is that, perhaps parents should evict their adult sons from the basement of their family home; and donate their son’s basement furnishings & décor (that resembles the bridge of the Starship Enterprise) to Goodwill and force the kid to grow up and act like an adult.