Steve Hanke Quotes

I don't know of a single economist who disagrees that when you raise the minimum wage, you kill jobs for the poor.

I have serious concerns with the discussion around minimum wage because it drives up costs, and it could harm jobs.

So what are the effects of increasing minimum wages? Any Econ 101 student can tell you the answer: The higher wage reduces the quantity of labor demanded, and hence leads to unemployment.

The real minimum wage is zero.

Literally, if we took away the minimum wage - if conceivably it was gone - we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.

Raising the minimum wage seems to all economists to, at the very least, fail to 'raise' employment, and we'd all like to see better inclusion of low-skilled workers into good-paying jobs.

it seems to me absolutely scandalous to try to set wage levels which wipe out jobs. I mean these are people who are not on the dole. They want to work and if you price them out of the market, its gonna be a lot worse for them and for the economy.

Minimum wage laws have never worked in terms of having the middle class attain more prosperity.

Some states are doing better than others. Some states naturally have stronger economies. So it's not as simple as saying, 'Let's go to $15.' If you do it wrong, you can hurt the very people you're trying to help.

The impact of a minimum wage depends on how high it is to average wages. If you have too high a minimum wage, it will hurt job creation, and you will have negative job effects.

Raising the minimum wage isn't just pro-worker; it's pro-economic growth.

Like all other contracts, wages should be left to the fair and free competition of the market and should never be controlled by the interference of the legislature.

My question becomes, 'If we want to empower people with higher pay, there are probably better ways to do it that are more enduring than simply a federal mandate on wage level.'

I am quite uncomfortable using legislation to peg the minimum wage.

Obviously, we want people to be paid a wage that could help make ends meet, but when you increase artificially the cost of labor to do a job, then oftentimes, those jobs will just go away.

The problem with one single minimum wage is that you don't allow for younger people, who are less skilled and maybe more easily pushed out of the job market, or that the minimum wage should vary for different regions.

Raising the minimum wage does not take from growth, it adds to growth.

I'm more concerned about maximum wages, not minimum wages.

Don't let anybody tell you that raising the minimum wage will kill jobs.

I have been dealing with the minimum wage issue for the last 28 years that I have been in elective office. And when you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less of it. At a time when the American people are still asking the question, where are the jobs, why would we want to make it harder for small employers to hire people?

I do not support raising the minimum wage, and the reason is as follows. When the minimum wage is raised, workers are priced out of the market. That is the economic reality that seems, at least so far, to be missing from this discussion.

The concept of minimum wage is crazy, if you really stop to think about it. If $8 an hour seems right, why not $20 an hour? If it's coming by order of the government, why stop at any level? Why not just say everyone should get what Gates gets?

The value of the minimum wage shouldn't be eroded, and it has been.

Statistical studies are all over the lot about the pluses and minuses of raising the minimum wage.

The minimum wage was due for an increase, but it was important that we offset its cost to small businesses.