A new chart from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) looked at the unemployment rate for black teens, aged 16 to 19, in the United States. The data highlighted that the jobless rate for black teens hit 40.1 percent in June, up from around 22 percent at the beginning of 2016. It’s also up by 12 percent alone from May.
Here is the chart:
The obvious culprit is the spike in the minimum wage across the country, which went into overdrive July 1. You can expect to see the youth unemployment rates for blacks and others skyrocket when the $15 minimum wage goes into effect.
Here is the Wall Street Journal reporting on the minimum wage increases:
On July 1, 14 U.S. cities, states and counties, plus the District of Columbia, will raise their minimum wage in a mid-year burst that reflects the legislative momentum to boost pay floors across the country while federal legislation stalls. In total, the minimum wage will rise in 15 places: two states – Maryland and Oregon, plus Washington, D.C., Los Angeles County, Calif., and 11 cities. That includes Chicago, eight cities in California and two in Kentucky, according to a new analysis by the right-leaning Employment Policies Institute.
It was true when free market economist Milton Friedman said it years ago and it remains true today: black are the most affected by a minimum wage. Remember, the minimum wage was first initiated as a way to combat blacks from gaining employment and pricing whites out of the labor market.
Here is Friedman talking about it:
Of course, legendary free market economist Murray Rothbard called the minimum wage “compulsory unemployment.”
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