A ‘very credible’ new study on Seattle’s $15 minimum wage has bad news for liberals

Raising the minimum wage is an idea that is economical with the truth about how the job market works.  There are many people involved in the job market with varying requirements for work, with varying skills, and who work for varying reasons.

The notion of a ‘living wage’ that lies behind the increase reduces this diversity of factors to one, then pronounces the change a way of addressing inequality.  It’s called confirmation bias.

One study unsurprisingly found that ‘The costs to low-wage workers in Seattle outweighed the benefits by a ratio of three to one.’  Pretty soon, Seattle will be able to claim that it has eliminated the working poor.  And it will have done so by eliminating work for them.

It is a sort of way of achieving equality.

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