Silly Little Country

Don Boudreaux and the NY Times and the Minimum Wage

Don Boudreauzx loves writing concise letters exposing ignorant reporting, but this letter exposes a real beauty at the New York Times. Now one understands why the reporting is so poor - the elephant in the room runs counter to the politics of the Times and its so-called journalists.

...I wonder why you published Mickey Meece’s report on today’s record high teenage unemployment rate (“Job Outlook for Teenagers Worsens,” June 1). Between 2007 and 2009, Uncle Sam ordered teenage workers (who are mostly unskilled) to raise the price they charge for their labor services by 41 percent. (That is, the federal minimum-wage rose from $5.15 per hour in 2007 to its current level of $7.25 in 2009 – a 41 percent increase.)
Does it not strike you as more than passing strange for your reporter – assigned to help explain why teenagers today have an increasingly difficult time finding jobs – to ignore the fact that these teenagers are ordered by government to raise significantly the wages that they charge their employers?

posted by Alan Adamson @ 9:45 AM