Minimum-wage worker needs 2.5 full-time jobs to afford a one-bedroom apartment
If you believe that labor is not an exception to the law of supply and demand, then it follows that raising the minimum wage will reduce the demand for labor, and increase unemployment among those with the least productivity. The net affect of that could well increase poverty, working against the good intentions of minimum wage advocates.<p>If so, if we raise the minimum wage 2.5 times, so that every full time worker can afford a one-bedroom apartment, there would be a greater number of unemployed workers than before who cannot afford housing.<p>If, again, the law of supply and demand applies here, a better approach would be to increase the supply of both jobs and housing by reducing the regulatory burden on each. Less regulation on business means more and more profitable businesses competing for an inelastic supply of labor, raising labor prices. Less regulation on housing means more of it at lower prices. Lower quality housing that would otherwise be illegal is made available to people who could otherwise afford none at all.<p>If you&#x27;re an unemployed person living in an illegal shanty town, subject to continual law enforcement harassment, even becoming a poorly employed person living in a legal shanty town is an improvement, where an increased minimum wage is not if you can&#x27;t get a minimum wage job.