Pennsylvania to Raise Minimum Wage

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor Ed Rendell signed legislation Sunday that will raise the state’s minimum wage by $2 over the next two years, despite decades of economic research showing the negative effects of minimum wage laws.

In another display of economic irresponsibility, potential 2008 Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards urged voters in Ohio to support a measure to increase that state’s minimum wage. Edwards said this would be a catalyst for a wage raise at the federal level, a policy the Democrats have been pushing hard recently. 

Shedding some light on the real effects of a wage hike is Kevin Hassett, economic policy director at the American Enterprise Institute. In this article, he presents sound, empirical analysis of the effect of minimum wage laws. Perhaps Rendell, Edwards, and their colleagues should consider his words before advocating such a policy.