Minimum Wage: Obama Not Exactly Solid on the Facts

Posted by Tina

Before leaving for an extended vacation in Hawaii over Christmas the President expressed his thoughts about raising the national minimum wage to $10.00 an hour.

“Now, we all know the arguments that have been used against a higher minimum wage. Some say it actually hurts low-wage workers — businesses will be less likely to hire them. But there’s no solid evidence that a higher minimum wage costs jobs, and research shows it raises incomes for low-wage workers and boosts short-term economic growth.”

But is he serious or just playing politics? As the Washington Examiner points out this morning he expressed his opinion differently in his book, “The Audacity of Hope”:

“It may be true — as some economists argue — that any big jumps in the minimum wage discourage employers from hiring more workers…”

He then went on to justify raising the minimum wage, even though it is likely to discourage hiring, because it hasn’t been raised sufficiently or often enough in recent years:

“When the minimum wage hasn’t been changed in nine years and has less purchasing power in real dollars than it did in 1955, so that someone working full-time today in a minimum-wage job doesn’t earn enough to rise out of poverty, such arguments carry less force.”

The President (And many prominent Democrats) justify by cherry picking statistics. The claim that minimum wage lacks the buying power it had when Truman was in office is true, but not for every year Truman was in office. The Examiner:

…the minimum wage has had more or less purchasing power in real dollars at various times over the years. Obama’s argument (in the inequality speech) that it is below where it was when Truman was in the White House is true of only one of Truman’s eight years in office; the rest of that time, the real value of the minimum wage was below where it is today. And today’s minimum wage is actually higher in real terms than it was a various points in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.

Democrat talking points on the minimum wage are simply false or misleading. The minimum wage was raised in 2007, 2008, and 2009 as the chart at the US Department of Labor shows. The President was wrong when he claimed that minimum wage earners can’t be lifted out of poverty. Minimum wage worker earnings are already above the poverty line at $15,080 per year. The poverty level is listed at $11,490. Most people without skills or education begin in minimum wage jobs but most move into higher paying jobs or are given a raise within a year. Many others are not the primary wage earner in the family. See more myth busting statistics here.

The unemployment rate for teens and minorities is staggering. These are the citizens that will be harmed, along with the small businesses that hire them when the President and Democrats win in their push to raise the minimum wage.

Democrats hope that raising the minimum wage will help them with young voters in the 2014 election. republicans will likely allow this to happen because they don’t want to be seen as the party that doesn’t care about poor people or young , or minorities. Democrats have the political edge but don’t be fooled…just as their policies have created a slow, sluggish recovery that has made only those on Wall Street prosper in the last five years, this political maneuver will do nothing to improve conditions for minorities, the young and the poor. It also will not improve the economy overall in the short term or the long term. The President claims there is no solid evidence that raising the minimum wage causes loss of jobs…but the broad truth he’s not solid on the facts.

America needs more jobs, including entry level jobs. Raising the minimum wage is more likely to make it harder for those who need a job to get one. Moving backwards isn’t a solid way to approach this problem.