The minimum wage devastates the unskilled
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17765/2176-9184.2025v25.e13558Palavras-chave:
Empirical Evidence, Logic, Minimum Wages, Productivity, UnemploymentResumo
Contextualization: Minimum wage legislation enjoys widespread popularity, with virtually no serious movement advocating for its complete abolition. The spectrum of mainstream opinion is limited to keeping the current rate, modestly increasing it, or significantly raising it.
Objectives: This paper aims to argue that the minimum wage law is an unjustified violation of individual rights. It holds that consenting adults should be legally free to engage in any “capitalist acts” they choose, even if these acts contravene minimum wage regulations.
Methodology: The study adopts a theoretical and normative approach, grounded in political philosophy and classical liberal economic thought. It critically examines the state's interference in voluntary contractual relationships between employers and employees.
Results: It concludes that the imposition of a minimum wage not only unjustly restricts contractual freedom but also leads to unemployment among society’s most vulnerable groups—namely, the poor, the unskilled, and racial minorities—who are least able to bear such outcomes.
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