Problematic when artificially high

Published 2:25 pm Friday, May 1, 2015

The Friday editorial, “A minimum wage that works” is misleading and inaccurate because it ignores the effect of the earned income tax credit.

Assuming the hypothetical family is a single mom with two children, the EITC for her would be about $5,100, giving her an income of $24,800 for a wage of $19,700. If she earned $12 per hour, her EITC would be about $3,900, giving her an income of $29,000. Either way she is above the poverty level.

The EITC doesn’t get much publicity, probably because it is supported across the political spectrum as an effective anti-poverty tool that also motivates people to work instead of collecting welfare. An artificially-high minimum wage is a blunt instrument that has unintended consequences, such as reducing job opportunities for entry-level workers and workers that are not capable of providing enough value to an employer to justify hiring those workers.

Jerry Fraser

Lynnwood