The problem with #politics is that it exaggerates and makes (empty) slogans out of what we know. This applies to the #minimumwage too, where proponents of increasing it claim it will raise people's wages and opponents claim it will kill jobs. Neither is very accurate or finds

support in economic theory. Let's look at what a minimum wage law does, and then at what we can expect from it. Because the former is rarely admitted and the latter goes both ways. So, first, a minimum wage law is not an increase in anybody's wage, it is only a prohibition of

paying employees less than a stated amount. Raising the minimum wage law does not mean whoever is making less gets an automatic raise. What it does mean, especially after a transition period, is that there will be no jobs that create less value than is necessary for employers to

afford paying that minimum amount (plus taxes, benefits, overhead, etc.). No business can afford employing people for jobs creating less value for the business than they cost. So, no: increasing the minimum wage does not raise wages. It weeds out jobs (and workers!) that are less

productive than the decreed wage level requires for breaking even. It raises the average and median wages because low-wage jobs become unaffordable. Increasing businesses' salary costs will mean some lay people off, others refrain from hiring, and yet others reorganize to either