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Higher minimum wages increase job losses
May 2009 · Kristen Lopez Eastlick · Kennebec Journal Morning Sentinel
Advocating a higher minimum-wage or “living wage,” is severely misguided (column, “Lack of a living wage is at core of many of society’s woes,” May 8). Decades of economic research have shown that mandated minimum-wage raises increase job losses, particularly among vulnerable groups like teens, minorities and adults without a high-school diploma. This job loss is exacerbated in a weak economy. In fact, the vast majority of… -
Lower wages = more jobs
May 2009 · Kristen Lopez Eastlick · Western Washington Front
State legislators and the public should beware that putting minimum wage increases on auto-pilot–without any mechanism for stopping the increases during a recession–is an extremely misguided policy that is yielding disastrous results for vulnerable employees in the state (“Western’s overall student employment rate down,” May 1). Decades of economic research predicted that there would be an increase in job losses following minimum wage hikes, particularly among vulnerable… -
Minimum wage hike hurts workers
May 2009 · Kristen Lopez Eastlick · The Spectrum
A story (“Residents struggle to pay rent,” May 4) recently purported that a wage rate at twice the state minimum wage is necessary to pay rent to live in Utah. What the article failed to acknowledge is that only 15 percent of minimum wage earners are the primary breadwinners for their families. The vast majority of minimum-wage earners are teens living at home (41 percent), or second-wage… -
Lower wage is better than unemployment
May 2009 · Kristen Lopez Eastlick · Columbia Tribune
Editor, the Tribune: Politicians’ “feel-good” rhetoric merely reinforces policies that result in unemployment for entry-level workers, especially in a weak economy (“Minimum-wage bill caps pay for waiters,” April 29). Allowing a lower wage for tipped workers who already earn above the minimum wage, counting tips, would stem that job loss. Decades of research predicted there would be an increase in job losses after minimum-wage hikes, particularly among… -
Automatic minimum wage increases are not helping the economy
May 2009 · Kristen Lopez Eastlick · Statesman Journal
A March 29 article severely underestimates the correlation between Oregon’s minimum wage indexing policy and its skyrocketing unemployment rate (“Three reasons for Oregon’s high rate of unemployment”). New research from Oregon economist Eric Fruits found that if Oregon’s minimum wage rate had been equal to the federal wage level between 2003 and 2008, the state unemployment rate would have been more than 3 percentage points lower than… -
Few rely solely on the minimum wage
May 2009 · Kristen Lopez Eastlick · Columbus Dispatch
An inaccurate report cited in a Dispatch article purported that a wage rate twice the state minimum wage is necessary to pay rent in Ohio (“Rent often too big a bite, April 15). What the article failed to acknowledge is that only 15 percent of minimum-wage earners are the primary breadwinners for their families. The vast majority of minimum-wage earners are teens living at home (41 percent)…