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Wage Hike Won’t Work for Poor
April 2005 · Craig Garthwaite · Boston Herald
Gov. Mitt Romney seems an unlikely candidate for Ted Kennedy’s pinch hitter. Since the senator’s efforts to raise the national minimum wage struck out in Congress, though, Romney has stepped into the batter’s box to endorse proposals that would increase Massachusetts’ minimum wage to more than 60 percent above the current federal rate with annual adjustments for inflation. Although the governor has claimed that a higher minimum… -
Least-skilled workers lose with minimum-wage hike
March 2005 · Craig Garthwaite · Uniontown Herald-Standard
Some lawmakers are hailing a proposed 39% increase in Pennsylvania’s minimum wage as a life preserver for employees struggling in a stormy economic sea. But Harrisburg’s minimum wage bill ensures that the thousands of low-skilled Pennsylvanians who need entry-level employment opportunities will find it even more difficult to stay afloat. The statehouse ought to remember that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cautioned Congress just last summer against… -
Increasing minimum wage won’t help jobless
February 2005 · Craig Garthwaite · Duluth News-Tribune
Some lawmakers are hailing the proposed 36 percent increase in Minnesota’s minimum wage as a life preserver for employees struggling in a stormy economic sea. But St. Paul’s minimum wage bill ensures that the thousands of low-skilled Minnesotans who need entry-level employment opportunities will find it even more difficult to keep afloat. The statehouse ought to remember that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cautioned Congress just last… -
Raising New Jersey’s minimum wage is bad economic policy
February 2005 · Craig Garthwaite · Trenton Times
Some lawmakers are hailing the proposed 39% increase in New Jersey’s minimum wage as a life preserver for employees struggling in a stormy economic sea. But Trenton’s “heroics” ensure that thousands of low-skilled New Jersey residents who need entry-level employment opportunities will find it even more difficult to stay afloat. The State House ought to remember that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cautioned Congress just last summer… -
Raising minimum wage stands to hurt low-income workers
February 2005 · Craig Garthwaite · Detroit Free Press
No one who listened to Gov. Jennifer’s Granholm’s State of the State address could have mistaken her administration’s top priority — job growth. And no wonder. While the nation added 2.2 million new jobs last year, Michigan lost nearly 50,000, bringing the statewide unemployment rate to 7.3 percent — tying for last place with Alaska. “We will recover … but not through the traditional solutions of another… -
Unintended Consequences
December 2004 · Craig Garthwaite · New York Sun
When it convenes on Monday, the New York Senate is expected to vote on rejecting Governor Pataki’s veto of an increase in the state’s minimum wage. If it succeeds, New York’s minimum wage will spike to nearly 39% over the federal rate by 2007. But instead of giving low-income New Yorkers an early Christmas gift, senators voting for the wage hike will be saddling them with a…