Labor Markets and Minimum Wage: Crash Course Economics #28

How much should you get paid for your job? Well, that depends on a lot of factors. Your skill set, the demand for the skills you have, and what other people are getting paid around you all factor in. In a lot of ways, labor markets work on supply and demand, just like many of the markets we talk about in Crash Course Econ. But, again, there aren't a lot of pure, true markets in the world. There are all kinds of oddities and regulations that change the way labor markets work. One common (and kind of controversial one) is the minimum wage. The minimum wage has potential upsides and downsides, and we'll take a look at the various arguments for an against it.

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[drakeblood]

One thing that's important to note about wage discrimination is that it happens primarily when people are working under imperfect information. In other words, when everyone knows what everyone else is making it's harder for companies to pay people unfairly.

[liwendiamond]

A quick note for Crash Course editors : Could you avoid using the visual effect used at 2:57 and 8:07? This Flashing Screen effect is really painful on my eyes. I'm not prone to epileptic seizures or anything, but it's still incredibly annoying.

Thanks for the video.

[fridems]

Honest impression: This is the best crash course I have seen. This is also the best explanation I have received about the labour market, even during my three years of studying economics in high school. Hence, a toast to you guys, and also a big THANKS!

[arrowkrueger]

I'm a college student and I just want to thank Crash Course! You are such a HUGE help in just about every subject! Thank you so much for making such great quality videos with so much good information!

[mrclay]

2:58 Love CC, but please stop these flickering borders. They're distracting and could induce headaches/seizures.

[theflourishcrisis]

shouldn't the minimum wage be scaled with inflation?

[sbs]

Simply making a greater percentage of the workforce more skilled isn't a substitution for a minimum wage. There will always be a need for at least some unskilled labor.

[Marcos-uxhx]

I realized I never said: thanks for the wonderful job everybody does on Crash Course.

DFTKeepBA

[TheGreatAnt]

I appreciate the note how minimum wage effects possible unemployment and seeking more skilled workers, though there was no discussion of how minimum wage might affect product prices within that establishment and influence the cost of living for everyone, employed and unemployed. Could you discuss how minimum wage effects those factors?

[MichaelShulski]

"Workers of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains".. -Karl Marx

[szgergo]

2:57 starts glitching - epilepsy warning

[pnqpsre]

They forgot to mention that higher minimumwages also result in higher prices for goods made by minimumwage workers.

[RainAngel]

Could you do an episode about Universal Basic income and how automation may affect our economy in the future?

[ragmondead]

I am not going to tell you what to believe, but this is what you should believe.

[joshmnky]

When I was out of college looking for a job in engineering, I worked at a small computer repair business for $9/hr for a while. There were three people who worked there, and they hired me to take some of the load off. If the minimum wage were much higher than that, I think they would've just sucked it up and worked harder.
I'm not saying this is a super common situation, just that these situations definitely exist.

[nehilbhatnagar]

10:03 Messi took that advice seriously 😂😂

[Zappyguy]

Spent 6 months looking for work as a barista, so instead, I got a load from a family member to get a Medium Ridged heavy vehicle license. Got a job that same week. Thinking about the labour market as a market is very, very helpful, I am glad I made the switch in mindset, now to get that raise... Maybe next week...

[blurglide]

Minimum wage just means it's illegal for you to work unless you're worth whatever the minimum wage is. Labor is just a service you buy, and raising the price of labor means people find ways to make due with less of it.

Let's say we're in bizarro world though and demand doesn't change one bit, even if you're unable to be worth minimum wage is. What you have here is a subsidy for low-value workers. You always get more of what you subsidize, so why would people invest in their skills if the end result is making the same amount as before? In either scenario, economic productivity is reduced either due to unemployment or low skill.

The political push for increasing minimum wage is mostly through unions, who often get paid a certain MULTIPLE of minimum wage.

Even if this doesn't convince you minimum wage is a bad idea, a federal minimum wage is as the cost of living is do different in different...not just states...but cities! It should be a local thing. A $15 minimum wage in New York City would be unnoticeable as few there would work for less than that anyway, but in Rome NY the effect on the economy would be devastating.

Wage discrimination is BS these days; if I could save 23% for the same level of productivity by only hiring women, then I'd only hire women and put my competitors out of business. But then, they'd try to do the same, raising demand, and therefore price, of hiring women. That's exactly what we have today; it's whacko conspiracy-theory territory to think otherwise.

[Stikibits]

“A State divided into a small number of rich and a large number of poor will always develop a government manipulated by the rich to protect the amenities represented by their property.”
–Harold Laski, British political theorist (1893-1950)

[Itamar_Shai]

lol, on 8:53 you can see the burger king reflection