Letter to the editor: An argument against raising minimum wage

Minimum wage increases cause unemployment (decreases in total hours or total employment) or decrease workplace quality (which is difficult to measure), therefore harming workers. Consequently, Pennsylvania should not increase the minimum wage.

Here’s a lesson in Econ 101: From the starting point of human action (applying means according to ideas to achieve ends), we derive the principle of choice (every action taken has a foregone alternative), which is the giving of a preference. From preference we can derive demand and supply curves. Using demand and supply curves, we can construct a demand and supply for labor. Any minimum wage below where supply and demand intersect will be ineffective and thus pointless. If it is above the point where they intersect, the quantity of labor supplied will be greater than the quantity of labor demanded; therefore, a surplus of labor occurs, otherwise known as unemployment.

This truth is unavoidable because denying it also contradicts the starting point of human action. Any denial of human action classifies as a human action; therefore, denial of it is contradictory. Raising the minimum wage is thus a harmful policy, and Pennsylvania should not raise it.

Benjamin Seevers

North Apollo