What others are saying about minimum wage, millennials and international test scores

Raising minimum wage hurts youth

Calls to increase the minimum wage are rising. Financial Times columnist Edward Luce wrote that raising the minimum wage “would inject a much-needed stimulus into the anemic recovery without involving a dollar of taxpayer money.”

The New York Times has published columns by Princeton professor Paul Krugman and University of Massachusetts professor Arindrajit Dube on the advantages of raising the hourly minimum wage from its current level of $7.25.

These commentators and others suggest a $10.10 minimum wage, a 39 percent increase for minimum wage workers, even for the worst-performing employees.

Here are their talking points:

■Raising the minimum wage helps the economy because low-wage workers have more money to spend.

But when the higher wages are passed on to consumers in the form of higher costs, they have less to spend elsewhere. So they may spend more on fast food or retail, but less on other activities. Higher minimum wages can redistribute earnings, but cannot raise gross domestic product.

■Raising the minimum wage reduces turnover. But if employers want to reduce turnover, they are free to pay above minimum wage. Ninety-seven percent of American workers earn above minimum wage, not because employers are saints, but because firms need to pay higher wages to attract and retain workers.

■Everyone wants to raise the minimum wage. According to Luce, “By large margins, both Republican and Democratic voters support higher minimum wages.” Practically everyone is in favor of raising wages as long as higher wages are paid by someone else.

Where did the millennials go?

Ron Fournier in the National Journal : Young Americans are turning against Barack Obama and Obamacare, according to a new survey of millennials, people between the ages of 18 and 29 who are vital to the fortunes of the president and his signature health care law. The most startling finding of Harvard University’s Institute of Politics: A majority of Americans under age 25 — the youngest millennials — would favor throwing Obama out of office.

The survey finds that America’s rising generation is worried about its future, disillusioned with the U.S. political system, strongly opposed to the government’s domestic surveillance apparatus, and drifting away from both major parties. “Young Americans hold the president, Congress and the federal government in less esteem almost by the day, and the level of engagement they are having in politics are also on the decline,” reads the IOP’s analysis of its poll. “Millennials are losing touch with government and its programs because they believe government is losing touch with them.”

The results blow a gaping hole in the belief among many Democrats that Obama’s two elections signaled a durable grip on the youth vote. Indeed, millennials are not so hot on their president.

Obama’s approval rating among young Americans is just 41 percent, down 11 points from a year ago, and now tracking with all adults. While 55 percent said they voted for Obama in 2012, only 46 percent said they would do so again.

The survey of 2,089 young adults, conducted Oct. 30 through Nov. 11, spells trouble for the Affordable Care Act. The fragile economics underpinning the law hinge on the willingness of healthy, young Americans to forgo penalties and buy health insurance.

Among 18-to-29-year-olds currently without health insurance, less than one-third say they’re likely to enroll in the Obamacare exchanges.

U.S. students struggle

Joy Pullmann, writing for Heartland.org : The latest international test scores show U.S. students sliding further behind their global counterparts in math, reading, and science. On the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a test administered every three years, U.S. students came in 20th in reading in 2012. In 2009, they were tenth. On math, U.S. students ranked 30th this year. In 2009, they ranked 24th. And in science, U.S. students were 23rd of the more than 65 countries tested, four below their 2009 ranking.

The results generated a raft of concerned statements. “With all the available resources and innovation that occurs within the United States, it’s inexcusable that we have not yet embraced the necessary reforms to significantly boost student outcomes,” said Kara Kerwin, president of the Center for Education Reform.

Overall, U.S. students were at about the international average in reading and science and below-average in math.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development administers PISA to 15-year-olds across the world. OECD also found that the United States spends more than every country on K-12 education except for four. This means nearly all the countries whose students perform better than U.S. students spend less to get better results. Kerwin recommended that policymakers quickly give families more information and choices in education, reforms proven to improve student outcomes.