NCPA Offers Minimum Wage Expert To Discuss Possible Wage Hike & Veto Threats

DALLAS (Nov. 3, 1999) – The Clinton Administration is threatening to veto a bill which would raise the minimum wage by $1 over three years and cut taxes by $35 billion, saying it "provides no benefit to average working Americans."

According to Richard McKenzie, a professor at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California-Irvine, however, the Clinton Administration should veto the bill because the minimum wage will increase unemployment and reduce non-money benefits such as health care; not because of the tax cuts.

Minimum wage hikes kill jobs, especially among minority youth and the working poor, according to an NCPA report co-authored by McKenzie. But maybe more importantly, every dollar spent in additional money wages is met with a one dollar reduction in non-money benefits.

McKenzie is available to speak on the often overlooked negative affects of a minimum wage hike.

Who: Richard Mckenzie — Professor, Graduate School Of Managment University Of California – Irvine

What: The Minimum Wage

When: Available Immediately

Where: NCPA