Fourteen states raised their minimum wage on January 1st.

We agree in principle with the 1987 New York Times that the ideal minimum wage is $0. We don’t have a big problem with modest minimum wage laws, but 10 states and dozens of cities now have a minimum wage above $15 an hour. In some California cities the minimum wage is above $19 an hour and Seattle is well over $20.

The effect of the minimum wage is to raise the take-home pay for some workers and reduce it to zero for many of the least skilled who don’t get hired. The vast majority of workers who earn minimum wage are in starter jobs and get a pay raise after one year on the job.

We’ve long advocated a teen minimum wage of $6 or $7 an hour to help get young people into the labor force.

We note that with the exception of Washington which had a slight gain last year, every one of the states with a $15 or more minimum wage is losing population. We also note that most of the states with a super-minimum wage rank near the bottom of job creation.