Thomas Sowell Quotes

A minimum wage leads to higher levels of unemployment.

Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero, regardless of the laws, and that is the wage that many workers receive in the wake of the creation or escalation of a government-mandated minimum wage, because they lose their jobs or fail to find jobs when they enter the labor force. Making it illegal to pay less than a given amount does not make a worker’s productivity worth that amount—and, if it is not, that worker is unlikely to be employed.

Minimum wage laws tragically generate unemployment, especially so among the poorest and least skilled or educated workers... Because a minimum wage, of course, does not guarantee any worker's employment; it only prohibits, by force of law, anyone from being hired at the wage which would pay his employer to hire him.

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.

Remember that the minimum wage law provides no jobs; it only outlaws them; and outlawed jobs are the inevitable result.

A minimum-wage law is, in reality, a law that makes it illegal for an employer to hire a person with limited skills.

Unskilled and inexperienced workers are the ones most often deprived of employment opportunities by increases in the minimum wage.

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

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.

Any reasonable economist will tell you that it's nearly impossible to isolate the impact of right-to-work laws on a state's job growth. A multitude of other factors intervene. However, one thing the numbers can show is that right-to-work laws have a negative effect on the wages of workers in that state.

I don’t buy the argument that there are certain jobs that American just will not do.

It's up to government to make work pay more than welfare.

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.

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 increases poll well: When A supports compelling B to give money to C, C is pleased, A is pleased with himself for being virtuous with other people’s money, and B is at least pleased that he can pass some of his increased costs on to his customers, who perhaps include A, who might not notice.

Hispanic citizens know that illegal labor is taking jobs from their children and their legal immigrant friends.

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

While not a panacea for the nation's illegal immigration problems, employer sanctions are one necessary means of stopping the exploitation of vulnerable workers and the undercutting of American jobs and living standards.

Wal-Mart creates entry level jobs for people who don't have a lot of skills; those jobs don't pay a lot.

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.

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

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.

Well, for me the canning factory was minimum wage, which at the time I believe was $3.40 or something. I was just happy to have a job.