Monday, January 13, 2014

Minimum Wage as an Antipoverty Tool

David Henderson reports:

If the federal minimum wage were increased to $9.50 per hour:
  •  Only 11.3 percent of workers who would gain from the increase live in households officially defined as poor.
  •  A whopping 63.2 percent of workers who would gain were second or even third earners living in households with incomes equal to twice the poverty line or more.
  •  Some 42.3 percent of workers who would gain were second or even third earners who live in households that have incomes equal to three times the poverty line or more.