Raise Maryland, a coalition of union, immigrant and advocacy groups, is lobbying for a bill to gradually raise the state’s minimum wage from the current federal rate of $7.25 per hour to $10 by 2015. The bill’s Senate sponsor, Sen. Robert Garagiola, D-Montgomery, claims it would “not only put more money in the pockets of [minimum wage] workers, but also increase business activity in our state.”

But raising wages by government fiat will not automatically increase business activity or productivity, which are what’s needed to expand Maryland’s economy. A hike in the minimum wage will likely have the opposite effect because it will force businesses to pay low-skilled workers more than their labor is worth in the marketplace.