President Obama's overtime pay gambit

If you take an economics course, you may learn about the different events that can cause an increase in workers’ pay. The demand for the product a worker makes may rise, causing the demand for workers to go up. The supply of workers may decline, causing employers to bid up wages to keep the ones they have.

But there’s one event the textbooks don’t cover: The president of the United States gives you a raise. Many workers will get news to the effect that he has done just that. But it’s not as simple as it sounds.