I'm sympathetic about people making low wages, but I'm not sure if raising the minimum wage will help the poor, at least if it goes up by 40% as mentioned in the article.
Robert J. Samuelson: Minimum-wage mirage? - The Washington Post
This minimum wage business is tricky. On its face, raising the wage seems an easy way to fight poverty. Just pay low-wage workers more. After all, some scholarly research finds that, within reasonable limits, theres no job penalty. A higher minimum doesnt reduce employment much, if at all. By and large, thats the position of the Obama administration, congressional Democrats and liberal groups. Unfortunately, it may not be that simple.
Democrats propose raising the present federal minimum of $7.25 an hour to $8.20 this year, $9.15 in 2015 and $10.10 in 2016. Assuming no job losses, almost 28 million workers would benefit by 2016, estimates the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a liberal think tank. ... Someone working 40 hours a week at the minimum would see annual wages go from $15,080 now to $21,008 in 2016. ...
For starters, the minimum wage is a blunt instrument to aid the poor because it covers many workers from families that are well above the federal poverty line. By the administrations figures, 53 percent of workers who would benefit from a higher minimum come from families with incomes above $35,000, including 22 percent with incomes exceeding $75,000.
Next, economists still disagree on the job effect. In studies and their review of other studies economists David Neumark and J.M. Ian Salas of the University of California at Irvine and William Wascher of the Federal Reserve conclude that higher minimums do weaken low-wage employment. ...
But scholarly research, regardless of conclusions, may be beside the point. Businesses dont consult studies to decide what to do. They respond based on their own economic outlook. They may not react to a higher minimum wage now as they did in the past. Two realities suggest this.
First, the proposed increase is huge. By 2016, its almost 40 percent. Similar gains usually have occurred when high inflation advanced all wages rapidly. The minimum mainly kept pace. Thats not true today. Compared to average wages, the proposed hike in the minimum appears to be the largest since the 1960s.
Second, businesses have been reluctant job creators. They curb hiring at the least pretext. They seem obsessed with cost control. The Great Recession and the 2008-09 financial crisis spawned so much fear that they changed, at least temporarily, behavior. Firms are more cautious.
Robert J. Samuelson: Minimum-wage mirage? - The Washington Post