Minimum Wage Laws and Discrimination

When you said goodbye
You were on the run
Tryin' to get away from the things you'd done
Now you're back again
And you're feeling strange
So much has happened, but nothing has changed
--Glenn Frye

In part 2 of a missive on the damage wrought by minimum wage laws (part 1 here), Thomas Sowell observes that minimum wage laws have historically been an instrument of racial discrimination. This is because these laws not only constitute compulsory unemployment, but they also disproportionately force low skilled workers, who often come from minority groups, to the sidelines.

Cases of using minimum wage laws to promote discriminatory agendas have been documented in other countries such as Canada, Australia, and South Africa. The United States has been no exception. For example, supporters of the first federal minimum wage law in the US, the Davis Bacon Act of 1931, included Northerners seeking to keep Southern construction companies that employed non-union black workers from heading north and under bidding unionized firms on building projects.

The irony, of course, is that many proponents of minimum wage laws also claim to oppose racial discrimination.

These people have either not thought things through or they possess ulterior motives.

Those who empathize with minorities and 'underprivileged' classes should be the last to support minimum wage laws because these laws disproportionately force minorities from labor markets and put them out on the street.