To the Editor:
Re “A $15 Minimum Wage for New York” (editorial, March 5):
While it is true that it would be very difficult to live on one’s own on $9 an hour, it is even harder with no job at all. And when someone is sharing a home with family, friends or a domestic partner, every income, however modest, helps meet expenses. A low-wage “starter job” is often the best way for teenagers, immigrants and labor force re-entrants to acquire the skills that will eventually qualify them for higher-paying jobs.
The $15 minimum wage proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo will at best drive these jobs underground, and at worst will turn the lowest-skilled into perpetual welfare clients by denying them entry-level employment. Instead of raising the minimum wage, New York’s legislators should eliminate it altogether.
J. HUSTON McCULLOCH
New York
The writer is an adjunct professor of economics at New York University.
Note from KBJ: It's a miracle! The truth got past the letters editor of the New York Times!
