SALON TALKS

Salon Talks: Why minimum wage hikes hurt entry-level employees

Labor researcher Preston Cooper makes the case for a youth minimum wage

Published August 31, 2016 6:05PM (EDT)

On Tuesday's "Salon Talks," host Carrie Sheffield talked to Manhattan Institute's Policy Analyst Preston Cooper about the benefits of a youth minimum wage.

"Young workers, they're at a fundamentally different place in their lives than older workers," Cooper argued. "They're just starting out. They're getting entry-level jobs. They're going to want the experience ... more than the wage that they're getting."

Cooper said that he's had unpaid internships that have better qualified him for future employment opportunities, but that such a $4.25 minimum wage would expand youth employment by 50,000 jobs.

"The people who are most hurt by these minimum wage hikes are young people," he continued. "If we can start these workers out at a lower wage than what the federal minimum wage is offering, then employers are gonna be more likely to hire them."


By Brendan Gauthier

Brendan Gauthier is a freelance writer.

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Minimum Wage Original Video Preston Cooper Salon Talks Youth