Minimum wage facts for kids
The minimum wage is the least amount of money that employees of a business can be paid. Minimum wage is a relative term. Different countries have different minimum wages. Nunavut in Canada has a minimum wage of $11.00 per hour. Ontario, another place in Canada has a minimum wage of $10.25 per hour.
Some people think the minimum wage should be raised, so poor people will have more money. Others think it is worse because the government will not have enough money to pay all the employees, so they will raise the taxes or raise the inflation.
Some people think that the minimum wage is harmful to employees because companies only hire employees whose labor is worth the price they are required to pay. They think that if the minimum wage is raised employees will lose their job because companies cannot afford to pay them the raised minimum wage.
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Modern economics suggests that a moderate minimum wage may increase employment as labor markets are monopsonistic and workers lack bargaining power.
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A 2010 study published in the Review of Economics and Statistics compared 288 pairs of contiguous U.S. counties with minimum wage differentials from 1990 to 2006 and found no adverse employment effects from a minimum wage increase. Contiguous counties with different minimum wages are in purple. All other counties are in white.
See also
In Spanish: Salario mínimo para niños