The Wall Street Journal reports that several economists have pointed out that a federal minimum wage hike would leave many youths bearing the brunt of a tougher employment environment.
Democrats hope to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour by 2025 and eliminate the subminimum wage, which allows employers to pay teenagers less in the first 90 days of work. Most U.S. states have long set higher minimum wages.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the change will give millions of workers a raise and even help some out of poverty, but 1.4 million workers are afraid of losing their jobs in the next four years, most of them teenagers; young, less educated workers will account for the largest number.
The youth unemployment rate is higher than the overall workforce during the Newcastle pneumonia Epidemic. In April 2020, the unemployment rate for youth aged 16 to 19 approached 32 percent, more than double the overall rate of 14.8 percent at the peak of the epidemic; the youth unemployment rate slipped to 13.9 percent in February, but is still higher than the overall unemployment rate of 6.2 percent.
Alicia Sasser Modestino, PhD in economics at Northeastern University, said, “The $15 minimum wage will further hit youth employment prospects as some employers will cut back on manpower or hire people with more work experience.”
Nader Masadeh, CEO of the Buffalo Wings & Rings restaurant chain, said that once the minimum wage is raised, the first order of business will be to raise menu prices; if layoffs are necessary, they will start with the youth.
The current minimum wage proposal is still waiting for Congress to pass, after the implementation will be a gradual increase in basic wages, initially to $ 9.5 per hour, meaning that the next few years will not appear $ 15 minimum wage.
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