Just because the minimum wage has not increased does not mean that wages have not gone up. Unless you understand the function of the minimum wage you should not complain about its stagnation. Every time the minimum wage has been raised it has hurt those who need jobs the most, those with little or no skills.

Consider this, of the 74 million workers who are paid hourly wages, only 520,000 earn the minimum wage. Which means that less than 1% of the working population. Of this only 5% are below the poverty line whereas 40% have incomes higher than $60,000.

While I will agree that illegal immigrants work to hold down wages, especially in regards to lower skill workers. This has nothing to do with the minimum wage.

Minimum wage allows lower skilled workers to get a foot in the door. Of those who earn minimum wage only 15% still earn it after 3 years, and 63% receive raises within one year. What further goes to illustrate this point about minimum wage is that only 2% of those over the age of 25 earn minimum wage, that means the remaining minimum wage earners are between the ages of 16 and 25. Hmmmmm why do those ages seem so familiar, how about that they coincide with the ages of students. Hmmm could it be that students earn minimum wage more often than others?? Why would this be??? Hmmm perhaps because they go to school and they do not work full-time where they can successful learn a trade. Could it also be because many of these individuals while in school only work part time when school is out.

Of course to answer any of these questions truthfully is to blow your own argument out of the water and into the trash heap.

dmk