Minimum Wage Hike hurts Pennsylvania’s Poor

For Immediate Release from the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania:
Date: 02/24/2006

For more information contact:
Doug Leard (Media Relations) or David Jahn (Chair) at 1-800-R-RIGHTS

Minimum Wage Hike hurts Pennsylvania’s Poor

Study forecasts 10,000 more unemployed Pennsylvanians

A recent study concludes that proposed legislation to increase the minimum wage would “result in a loss of 10,000 jobs and impose a $350 million hit on the Pennsylvania economy.”

In the study, Dr. David Macpherson, an economist at Florida State University determined that the minimum wage increase would cost employers over $262.7 million. In addition, the increase would cost $86.7 million in lost income for the 10,000 employees who will loose their jobs when their employers can no longer afford their wages.

Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania State Chair, David Jahn, stated “as this study indicates, a minimum wage increase hurts the poor by destroying jobs and providing workers with less employment options.”

MacPherson’s study also reveals that most minimum wage earners are not poor. Over half – 56.2% are under 24 and 45.9% still live with their parents. 65% are part time employees. Only 10% are the sole earners with children.

The study found that the average family income of minimum wage employees in Pennsylvania is just over $49,000 and that 80% of the benefits of the wage hike will go to families that aren’t poor.

Current bills before the state legislature propose to raise the minimum wage by January 1st 2007 to $7.15 per hour and then tie the wage to annual cost of living adjustments.

“The bureaucrats in Harrisburg continue to drive stake after stake into the heart of Pennsylvania’s economy,” stated Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania Media Relations Chair, Doug Leard. “Despite ample evidence that minimum wage increases hurt the economy and the poor, Harrisburg politicians pursue them as election-year talking points. After the fiasco of their pay raise, you would think the bureaucrats would understand that the days of politics as usual in Pennsylvania are over.”

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Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania
3863 Union Deposit Road #223
Harrisburg, PA 17109
1-800-774-4487
www.lppa.org