When is Enough, Enough?

As I write these words, the entire country is gripped in fear over the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Maryland, businesses have been ordered ... ORDERED ... to close their doors, in order to stop the spread of the virus. That was 5 days ago ... at 5:00pm on March 23, 2020.
Thus far, I have been supportive of these measures. I believe they have been effective in significantly slowing down the progress of the virus.
But at some point, this needs to stop.
So far in Maryland, we have had 781 confirmed cases, and 5 deaths. That is a mortality rate of 0.64%. Several of the deceased were quite elderly ... over 80 years old ... and it's not clear that the disease shortened their life by a significant margin.
Millions of people are unemployed right now ... over 3 million new unemployment claims were filed this week. My job is in serious jeopardy, and I know that my income is going to drop significantly in the next 30 days.
So how long does this go on?
How much human suffering are we going to bear in order to save a few lives?

Choosing to make life harder for young workers

Karl Smith is the Assistant Professor of Public Economics at UNC-Charlotte, and he has studied retail employment over the past 20+ years. Given that retail sales have, in real dollars, risen nearly 40% since 1990, he posits that retail employment of teenagers (age 16-19) should be higher than it is.

In his article, What the 'End of Retail' Means for Young Workers, Dr. Smith ignores the fac that the minimum wage has gone up over that same period. Young people first entering the workforce are the least productive and least valuable workers in the world. Yet, the government has made it more and more expensive to hire them. Hiring less of them is a perfectly rational and predictable response by retailers.

The fastest way to get young people int the workforce and contributing to society is to eliminate the minimum wage. But the unions won't allow that to happen.

The consequence of the minimum wage

One of the most common arguments when it comes to the minimum wage is that it hasn't keep pace with inflation, and therefore should be raised. However, only one part of that argument is factual. The other is purely opinion.

In 1978, the minimum wage was $2.65 per hour, which when it is adjusted for inflation would equate to $9.18/hr in 2011. Therefore, it is true that increases in the minimum wage have lagged behind increases in the general price level.

But an increase in the minimum wage is a government action ... and all actions have consequences. Even if that action is supposedly in response to other events, the consequences are real.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only one in four teens, age 16-19, have found a job. Notice the steady downward trend since the peak in the late 70's.

Notice how teen employment dropped until the early 80's, then climbed again until 1989, when it began another steep drop.

What happened?

Year	Min. Wage
1981	$3.35
1990	$3.80
1991	$4.25

Each drop in teen employment was preceded by a federally mandated increase in the minimum wage. This is a small sample which illustrates this larger pattern. It is an entirely predictable pattern. And it should call into question the very existence of a minimum wage.

The entire history of minimum wage rates is available at the US Dept of Labor.