It may not have affected the employment rate, which is at its lowest point ever, by the way - but I'd almost guarantee it elevated the abilities of those people who were getting paid to more comfortably afford the ever-increasing cost of living! Don't believe the hype about raising minimum wages being a bad thing. It's usually just some greedy blowhard trying to prevent his ability to capitalize and steal a bigger piece of the pie for himself from being taken away. If they tell you they don't believe people who work minimum wage jobs should get paid much and should not plan to spend their lives working jobs at that level - ask them if they think paying these people crap wages will ever allow them to afford higher education (such as it is) so they can rise above them. I doubt very seriously they will be able to continue their argument. The question is - will any of this data matter to the powers that be in the United States? Somehow, I doubt it...

It may not have affected the employment rate, which is at its lowest point ever, by the way - but I'd almost guarantee it elevated the abilities of those people who were getting paid to more comfortably afford the ever-increasing cost of living! Don't believe the hype about raising minimum wages being a bad thing. It's usually just some greedy blowhard trying to prevent his ability to capitalize and steal a bigger piece of the pie for himself from being taken away. If they tell you they don't believe people who work minimum wage jobs should get paid much and should not plan to spend their lives working jobs at that level - ask them if they think paying these people crap wages will ever allow them to afford higher education (such as it is) so they can rise above them. I doubt very seriously they will be able to continue their argument. The question is - will any of this data matter to the powers that be in the United States? Somehow, I doubt it... - The UK currently has the lowest ever unemployment and the highest ever minimum wage.