Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2025 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

Minimum Wage: Beggaring Workers does not Help Employment (Infographics)

Juan Cole 02/19/2013

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email

There is no place in the United States where a minimum wage worker working 40 hours a week can afford rent on a two-bedroom apartment.

h/t The Century Foundation.

Where the state’s minimum wage is lower than that of the Federal government, or where there is no minimum wage, workers get the Federal minimum wage. The vast majority of states which thereby guarantee the lowest wages allowed by Federal law are in the South– South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. If a low minimum wage created more employment, then these states should be solid green in the second map, at the bottom, showing unemployment rates. But only Louisiana is, and it has petroleum. (High minimum wage doesn’t always track with high employment, but there lots of reasons for unemployment nowadays, especially the Great Real Estate swindle of 2008 and its aftermath. Economists have repeatedly found that increases in minimum wage often track with subsequent rises in employment).

Minimum wage laws by state.

Unemployment by state (Dec. 2012):

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Independent Journalism

Click here to donate via PayPal.

Personal checks should be made out to Juan Cole and sent to me at:

Juan Cole
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
USA
(Remember, make the checks out to “Juan Cole” or they can’t be cashed)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter to have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.
Warning! Social media will not reliably deliver Informed Comment to you. They are shadowbanning news sites, especially if "controversial."
To see new IC posts, please sign up for our email Newsletter.

Social Media

Bluesky | Instagram

Popular

  • Trump never saw a Wind Farm in China, but Beijing has half of all Installed Wind Capacity and will Eat America's Lunch in this Industry
  • Trumpism holds all Men are Created Unequal and most should be Denied Life, Liberty or the Pursuit of Happiness
  • Why China's Inaction on Palestine and Iran Weakens its Global Standing
  • The Trump Team's Purge of Pentagon Photos Raises Sinister Echoes from the Past
  • Israel continues to Starve, Target Gaza Civilians in ongoing Genocide

Gaza Yet Stands


Juan Cole's New Ebook at Amazon. Click Here to Buy
__________________________

Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires



Click here to Buy Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires.

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam


Click here to Buy The Rubaiyat.
Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2025 All Rights Reserved