The Forgotten Man often writes about the unintended consequences that impact William Graham Sumner's Person C including this post from 2009 about the continued increase in the minimum wage.  Along comes this analysis from the Wall Street Journal about the affect of the minimum wage on youth employment.  As the chart below shows, teen unemployment has increased steadily as the minimum wage has increased over $2 per hour.


                                                         


The recession of 2008 only worsened this trend, especially among black teens.  The WSJ points out that "A Congress that has spent $862 billion to create jobs thus managed with its wage increase to harm tens of thousands of entry-level job seekers. And it did so in the name of "compassion" and a "living wage." In many cases that wage has since become zero."  Remember the results of this legislation the next time you hear the government pass a law to help 'those in need'.