The debate over minimum wage

Studies and opinions about the minimum wage fall into three broad categories: the effects are hard to estimate, the effects are bad, and the effects are good.

The effects are hard to estimate

1. This is a history of minimum wage in the US.
2. The CBO estimates that the impact of raising the minimum wage to $10.10 on employment ranges from a slight decrease to a loss of 1 million jobs. The best estimate is implementation would reduce employment by 500,000 (and increase the unemployment rate by about 0.3%). It states, "Many more low-wage workers would see an increase in their earnings. ... The increased earnings for low-wage workers resulting from the higher minimum wage would total $31 billion, by CBO's estimate. However, those earnings would not go only to low-income families, because many low-wage workers are not members of low-income families. Just 19 percent of the $31 billion would accrue to families with earnings below the poverty threshold, whereas 29 percent would accrue to families earning more than three times the poverty threshold, CBO estimates."
3. This article reports that President Obama issued an executive order raising the minimum wage for federal contract workers to $10.10. Would this increase tend to increase unemployment in the federal contract worker labor force? Who bears the extra expense of the higher wage? The article is a good introduction to the debate over the minimum wage and the difference in incentives facing government and private business.
4. The debate on minimum wage on Intelligence Squared. 
5. This story from Planet Money is a nice discussion of the disagreement in the estimates over the impact on unemployment of raising the minimum wage.

The effects are good.

1. This paper from the Center for Economic and Policy Research says that the minimum wage has no discernible impact on unemployment. 
2. In this video John Green argues in favor of minimum wage legislation.  A key point is that increasing the minimum wage by 10% reduces the number of people living in poverty by 2.5%. His statement that increasing the minimum wage is the “cheapest lunch available” for reducing poverty without increasing unemployment is probably incorrect; most economists agree that an earned income tax credit is a more effective way to reduce poverty.
3. This slideshow. It has 25 facts about the minimum wage.

The effects are bad.

1. This study says that minimum wage increases unemployment among 16-30 year-olds who did not finish high school. This group is likely to have low job skills.
2. This video is not a fan of minimum wage.
3. David Henderson on the minimum wage. He is not a fan.
4. Thomas Sowell on minimum wage. He is not a fan.
5. This paper reports that the gap between nationwide unemployment rates for whites and blacks began around 1940.
6. Fee does a nice job describing the decision employers face when deciding whether or not to employ someone and asks why not raise the minimum wage to $100 if raising it to $10 is good. 
7. A clip from John Stossel on the minimum wage. He is not a fan.
8. Read this article (1 p.). It reports that unemployment for young workers in New Zealand increased in 2008 following an increase in the minimum wage there.