Should we raise the minimum wage?
ListenGuests: David Neumark, John Schmitt
New Jersey voters recently approved an amendment to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 an hour. President Obama is pressing for an increase and there’s a bill in Congress that would boost it to $10.10 an hour. Already 21 states and Washington D.C. have minimum wages above the federal level. But there’s still a debate among economists about whether a minimum wage hike helps or hurts the economy. Does it stimulate the economy by giving low-wage workers more money to spend or does it lead fewer jobs and more joblessness? Our guests, JOHN SCHMITT, Senior economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and DAVID NEUMARK, Professor of economics at the University of California, Irvine, weigh in on the real cost of a minimum wage increase.
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