In what ways does an increase in federal minimum wage in the United States harm low-income workers?
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Project description
This study summarizes a few articles on how increasing the federal minimum wage impacts low income families and analyzes the effect of minimum wage increases on unemployment in Washington. Specifically, the study follows two different strands of research on minimum wage increases: how minimum wage affects prices in the market of goods and services and how minimum wage affects unemployment. In the analysis, I use contemporary price data and CPS data on unemployment to see what effect the minimum wage increases in the state of Washington have had on prices and unemployment using Oregon as a control state. This study finds evidence that increases in the minimum wage are correlated with rising prices and unemployment for low-wage workers. Increasing minimum wages may adversely impact low income families by creating a cycle of higher prices and subsequent minimum wage increases, as well as firms having to fire more employees due to the artificial price floor.
Mentor review
From day 1, Gio was a supportive mentor who listened to what I was interested in and transformed that into a learning process through research. He always started our sessions by asking what I wanted to work on, and while my knowledge on coding and economic theory was limited before doing this project, he always helped explain concepts and methods in a detailed and descriptive manner. Gio always pushed me to consider more aspects of data, conduct further analyses, and strengthen my research which I always really appreciated.