MI Responds: March 2016 Jobs Report

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The Labor Department’s jobs report was full of good news this morning. The number of jobs in the economy increased by 215,000 in March. The labor force participation rate rose to 63 percent. Earnings, after declining in February, picked up.

This news might lead some to celebrate the plans to raise the minimum wages in California and New York to $15 an hour. But looking at the least skilled in the economy tells a different story. The unemployment rate for adults without a high school diploma rose from 7.3 percent to 7.4 percent, compared to 4.1 percent for those with some college and 2.6 percent for those with a BA. These unskilled adults are the people who are going to be hurt by the increase in the minimum wage because employers will hire higher-skilled workers and automate routine work. Those who are deciding to raise the minimum wage are those with BA degrees, who do not have to worry about their jobs vanishing to technology. However, unskilled workers also have the right to work, and should not be priced out of the job market.

Diana Furchtgott-Roth is a Senior Fellow and Director of Economics21 at Manhattan Institute