Raising the Minimum Wage Will Not Reduce Poverty


 

Publication Date: January 2007

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): James Sherk

Research Area: Labor

Keywords: Labor; reduce poverty; profits

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

The evidence shows that (1) a higher minimum wage causes employers to cut back on the number of workers they hire and employees' working hours; (2) the beneficiaries of higher minimum wages are unlikely to be poor because most minimum-wage earners are not poor; and (3) few individuals living in poverty work at minimum-wage jobs or any job.