Michael R. Strain, Columnist

$15 Minimum Wage Subverts Biden Recovery Plan

Low-wage workers would lose job opportunities just when they need them most. There are better ways to help.

January 20, 2021 at 3:00 PM UTC

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

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President-elect Joe Biden is already working hard to sell his ambitious plan to get people back to work and help the economy heal from the pandemic recession. It’s too bad the plan includes a key element that would get in the way: a $15 federal minimum wage that would slow the recovery and devastate many low-wage workers.

Few policy issues are as charged as the minimum wage, with supporters and opponents alike making extreme arguments. A $15 hourly wage floor would not immediately lead to massive inflation or the abolition of entry-level jobs. Likewise, it is not a free lunch, helping some workers and harming none. Like all significant policy changes, it would create winners and losers.