For The Love Of Money

To all you naysayers who thought raising the minimum wage was going to kill the local economy, check out this nice article in the Journal today. Apparently, UNM’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research recently released a study that shows the impact of the heightened minimum wage in Santa Fe on job loss–which is that, basically, there isn’t any. You may recall that Santa Fe raised its minimum wage to $8.50 per hour in June 2004, and that it was again raised in January to $9.50. The article says that while the wage raise hasn’t stimulated job growth, it also hasn’t hacked at it. Things appear to be normal–only now, workers are able to afford lavish things like health care and food.

The article also states that jobs have been cut in some employment sectors, especially in the health care industry, but that these figures aren’t unique to Santa Fe–they’re reflected in Albuquerque as well–and anyone who’s been paying attention should be familiar with the health care cuts we’ve experienced as of late. Moral of the story: Raising the minimum wage is good. Now if only someone would tell that to President Bush.