https://abolishminimumwage.com/ Explore the case against minimum wage laws through interactive tools, state-by-state data, Milton Friedman's arguments, and alternative anti-poverty policies. en-us Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/history-of-the-minimum-wage.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/history-of-the-minimum-wage.html From 1912 state laws and two Supreme Court reversals to the 25-cent FLSA floor of 1938 and today's $7.25: how America's minimum wage began, and why. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/american-samoa-minimum-wage.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/american-samoa-minimum-wage.html In 2007 Congress put American Samoa on a path to $7.25. A cannery closed, Congress hit pause, and the floor still trails. What GAO actually found. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/california-minimum-wage-2026.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/california-minimum-wage-2026.html California's 2026 minimum wage is $16.90 ($35,152 a year), rising to $17.40 in 2027. Plus fast-food $20, health care tiers, LA, SF and San Diego rates. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/california-fast-food-minimum-wage.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/california-fast-food-minimum-wage.html A scorecard of every major study on California's $20 fast-food wage (AB 1228): Berkeley, NBER, Harvard, UC Santa Cruz, BRG, the retracted Hoover pieces, and prices. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/card-krueger-new-jersey-study.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/card-krueger-new-jersey-study.html Card and Krueger's 1994 New Jersey fast-food study found no job losses from a higher minimum wage. What it showed, how critics answered, and what it means. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/countries-without-a-minimum-wage.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/countries-without-a-minimum-wage.html Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Singapore have no national minimum wage. How they set pay, and the honest lesson. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/minimum-wage-and-inflation.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/minimum-wage-and-inflation.html Minimum wage hikes raise prices in low-wage sectors but don't drive inflation. The pass-through evidence, plus what inflation has done to $7.25 since 2009. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/does-minimum-wage-cause-unemployment.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/does-minimum-wage-cause-unemployment.html Does the minimum wage cause unemployment? The short answer, the supply-and-demand theory, and what 30 years of studies from Card-Krueger to Seattle find. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/florida-minimum-wage-2026.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/florida-minimum-wage-2026.html Florida's minimum wage rose to $15.00 on September 30, 2026 ($31,200 a year); tipped cash wage is $11.98. What's next, local rules, and the neighbor test. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/germany-uk-minimum-wage-evidence.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/germany-uk-minimum-wage-evidence.html Germany went from no minimum wage to €13.90 and the UK floor is now £12.71. What the evidence shows, what it cost, and why a US federal number is different. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/occupational-licensing-low-wage-workers.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/occupational-licensing-low-wage-workers.html About one in five US workers needs a license. How licensing keeps low earners out of better jobs, what the research shows, and why reform beats wage mandates. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/automation-and-the-minimum-wage.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/automation-and-the-minimum-wage.html Does a higher minimum wage speed up automation? What research on automatable jobs, fast-food kiosks, hours, and training says about rising wage floors. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/living-wage-vs-minimum-wage.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/living-wage-vs-minimum-wage.html Living wage vs. minimum wage: how MIT defines a living wage, why one hourly rate can't fit every family, and how the EITC and Child Tax Credit target need. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/minimum-wage-teen-employment.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/minimum-wage-teen-employment.html The share of U.S. teens with a job fell from 48.5% in 1979 to 25.8% in 2011. We chart 50 years of BLS data against every federal minimum wage increase. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/minimum-wage-increases-2027.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/minimum-wage-increases-2027.html Every state minimum wage increase on January 1, 2027: 14 states have announced new rates, two indexed states are pending, and New York's raise is on hold. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/minimum-wage-pros-and-cons.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/minimum-wage-pros-and-cons.html Minimum wage pros and cons, steelmanned: the best evidence on both sides, from Card-Krueger to Seattle and the CBO, plus where the 2025 federal bills stand. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/monopsony-and-the-minimum-wage.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/monopsony-and-the-minimum-wage.html When a few employers dominate a labor market, a wage floor can raise both pay and jobs. Here is that argument at full strength — and why one legislated number is a poor fix. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/new-york-minimum-wage-2026.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/new-york-minimum-wage-2026.html New York's 2026 minimum wage is $17 downstate and $16 upstate. Tipped rates, home care pay, and why an off-ramp froze the January 2027 inflation increase. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/subminimum-wage-section-14c.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/subminimum-wage-section-14c.html Section 14(c) lets employers pay some workers with disabilities below $7.25. DOL data, state bans, the withdrawn 2024 rule, and what would work better. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/texas-minimum-wage-2026.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/texas-minimum-wage-2026.html Texas minimum wage in 2026 is $7.25 an hour ($15,080 a year full time), tipped cash wage $2.13, and cities can't set their own. Rates, rules and context. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/case-against-the-minimum-wage.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/case-against-the-minimum-wage.html Nine arguments against the minimum wage, each with the best evidence for it, the strongest evidence against it, and links to the studies behind both. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/tipped-minimum-wage.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/tipped-minimum-wage.html The federal tipped wage has been $2.13 since 1991. Why D.C., Chicago and Michigan retreated from ending tip credits, why Massachusetts voters said no, and what servers say. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/ubi-vs-negative-income-tax-vs-eitc.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/ubi-vs-negative-income-tax-vs-eitc.html UBI vs. negative income tax vs. EITC: how each works, why a UBI with a flat tax equals an NIT, and what cash pilots, Alaska and EITC research show. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/seattle-15-minimum-wage-study.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/seattle-15-minimum-wage-study.html Seattle's $15 minimum wage produced dueling studies: UW found low-wage hours fell ~9%, Berkeley found no job loss. What each found and why they disagreed. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/cbo-15-dollar-minimum-wage-report.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/cbo-15-dollar-minimum-wage-report.html The CBO's 2019 and 2021 reports on a $15 minimum wage: about 1.4 million jobs lost vs. 0.9 million lifted from poverty, and why the uncertainty range matters. Sun, 11 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/state-minimum-wage-map-guide.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/state-minimum-wage-map-guide.html America's minimum wage patchwork runs from $7.25 in twenty states to $18.40 in Washington, D.C. A full 51-row table plus a field guide to reading the map — what it shows, what it hides, and what the natural experiment tells us. Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/minimum-wage-vs-eitc.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/minimum-wage-vs-eitc.html Minimum wage vs. the Earned Income Tax Credit: who pays, who benefits, and which better targets poverty, compared side by side with a worked example. Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/first-job-ladder.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/first-job-ladder.html Teens and first-time workers pay when wage floors rise. How entry-level jobs build skills and lifetime earnings, and what the minimum wage does to that rung. Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/milton-friedman-minimum-wage.html https://abolishminimumwage.com/articles/milton-friedman-minimum-wage.html Friedman said the minimum wage forces employers to discriminate against low-skill workers. His argument, its limits, and the negative income tax he proposed. Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT