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Principles of Macroeconomics / Unit 2   MAC 0124 short lesson, about 20 seconds

The Minimum Wage

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The idea

The minimum wage is a price floor in the labor market. A binding floor produces a surplus of labor, meaning unemployment among the workers it covers.

In practice

At the floor, more people want work at that wage than employers want to hire.

Where people slip

The size of that effect is contested: some studies find a small reduction in hiring, others none.

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