The source for this article is a post at yesterday's Washington Examiner. CBS's "60 Minutes" ran a story recently on the unusually high percentage of NFL players that come from American Samoa. In the process of explaining this phenomenon, the reporter mentioned that the economy of American Samoa had been ruined by a minimum wage mandate from Congress.
According to the article:
"...In 2007, Congress bypassed the usual method of having the Labor Department adjust American Samoan wage minimums and dictated that the current $3.76 for canning fish would increase to $7.25 in stages by 2014. It wasn't all that long before Chicken of the Sea said goodbye, we're gone, have fun."
This was followed by Star Kist cutting back on their work force. The Samoans had not supported the minimum wage increase--they know they are competing with Thailand, which pays sixty cents an hour.
Raising the minimum wage has generally increased unemployment for low wage workers. The last increase resulted in an increase in the number of teen agers unemployed. Generally speaking, minimum wage earners are people entering the work force who do not stay at minimum wage for very long. When the minimum wage is increased, fewer entry level people are employed. It is really not a good idea in a struggling economy.
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