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you have to define what a living wage is. What is a living wage for the teenager flipping burgers to earn money to buy a stereo or car? For the wife getting out of the house and earning a bit extra? For the inner city person otherwise unemployed who somehow manages to survive on less than minimum wage if unemployed? The term "living wage" is rather meaningless.

The fact is that few minimum wage earners are responsible for supporting an entire household. Many live with family. Many live with roommates. Many have other sources of income such as pensions or Social Security. The claim that minimum wage should allow a person to support a family is nonsense.

And what is required for living? Most people in this world still get by with less than what the poor in the U.S. and other developed countries have. They don't have televisions, much less cable. They don't smoke a pack a day. They don't have cars or even bus fare, they often walk miles to work. They don't have all the stuff we often think of as necessities.

No, the minimum wage is not fair. It is unfair to employers who are forced to cut back. It is unfair to those they would hire who would learn on the job. It is unfair to society because it does not allow people to freely exchange their skills for what those skills are worth in either money or learning. It is unfair to the economy as a whole because it denies us the skills people would develop if they really learned from the bottom up starting at jobs not now available.

Learn more about this author, Hal Lillywhite.
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