SLOWLY BUT SURELY AMERICA IS RE-LEARNING THE LESSON I THOUGHT IT HAD FIGURED OUT DECADES AGO: RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE CAN HURT THOSE WITH THE LOWEST SKILLS. Here are several recent articles on the subject.

Mostly it’s the young who get hurt. If you can’t get your foot on the first rung of the employment ladder, it’s really hard to get to the second.

Another problem for the young (especially college students) may be well-meaning laws that make it harder for employers to select the employees they want and to dismiss employees who aren’t working out. Too much protection can be worse than too little for job applicants with no track record. Hiring them can be high risk for employers. As a result, they don’t get hired. The rise of unpaid internships is likely in part a market response to this problem.