The Alabama Legislature is challenging the City of Birmingham's right to establish a wage floor of $10.10 an hour. Birmingham would be the first in the South to enact a local minimum, reports The New York Times. Alabama is one of five states that have no state minimum wage.
“I don't know if cities are equipped to analyze and determine what the appropriate minimum wage is, and what those impacts are,” said Rep. David L. Faulkner Jr., a Republican. And neither states nor “The State” are equipped to do so, either, we would remind.
In fact, no government, not even the most educated government bureaucrat, has the information available to do such a thing. But the marketplace surely does, based on the value of respective skill sets determined by productivity.
The minimum wage, in theory, sounds decent and compassionate. The minimum wage, in practice, arbitrarily raises the cost of labor which, simply put, results in less labor for those on the bottom rung of the employment latter. Minorities, especially blacks, are particularly hurt.
As economist John Goodman reminded last year, “When government forces employers to pay higher wages, employers react by reducing other types of spending on their employees. ... On balance it appears that employees are left worse off.”
And this is what “progressives” consider to be “progress”?
