It’s not surprising that, according to this morning’s Millennial Jobs Report, 15.5 percent of 18-29 year olds are still out of work. Chronic unemployment and underemployment continue to plague my generation, and this month’s report shows we aren’t making any meaningful progress. But April brings us one month closer to November. If politicians keep passing laws that hurt young people (and I have no doubt they will), we’ll have the opportunity to hold them accountable.
The latest effort in Washington to impede our generation is raising the federal minimum wage. This measure is unfair to young people who are already struggling to make ends meet. Contrary to the sound bites, raising the minimum wage actually increases unemployment and decreases job creation across the entire economy. These effects are amplified within younger demographics of Americans. When the minimum wage rises by $1.00, it is associated with a 1.48 percentage point drop in employment. If the minimum wage increased to $10.10, as the president wants, an estimated 500,000 jobs will be lost. This is job destruction, not job creation. Considering that young people make up more than half of minimum wage workers, this means that we will be hurt the most by a higher minimum wage.
It’s pretty obvious that young people can’t afford a minimum wage increase. It’s just another tax on a generation that is already overtaxed and underappreciated. Raising the minimum wage would do nothing more than increase the already unacceptably high youth unemployment rate. Despite earning more college degrees than ever before, young people are struggling to get jobs thanks to big government initiatives that prevent us from climbing the ladder of opportunity. President Obama said on Wednesday in a speech at the University of Michigan that “everybody deserves a chance at success,” but many young people won’t even get a first chance if the $10.10 minimum wage becomes law.
Raising the minimum wage also does not reduce poverty. By spending their time discussing it, politicians can ignore what they are failing to deliver and young people really need – jobs. In order to get us back to work, our leaders should abandon this obsession with the minimum wage and instead focus on reducing the growing government deficit, lowering tax rates, cutting spending, and, most importantly, creating jobs. President Obama just can’t wrap his head around this, though. He said in Michigan that not raising the wage gives Americans “the shaft.” In reality, it’s the other way around – a minimum wage hike hoodwinks Millennials by taking away our economic opportunity.
Young people are capable of providing creative and entrepreneurial skills to an aging workforce. The government should welcome our input instead of trying to shut us out of the job market. Young people are having a hard time, and raising the minimum wage will not make things any easier. We do deserve a chance at success, but it’s hard to find when government is standing directly in the way. Let’s move these obstacles out of the way when we head to the polls in November.
