Public justifications for the US minimum wage

Abstract

This research draws on four macroeconomic approaches to examine survey data, in order to understand how the US public justifies their positions on the US minimum wage. Using data collected from the 2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, survey responses are coded to understand the public's justifications for minimum wage in the United States. Findings show that respondents had myriad justifications for the minimum wage beyond economic justifications. Moreover, the justifications that people use to support their minimum wage positions seem to be more patterned with political than economic variables. Discussions about the minimum wage in the United States have tended to prioritise the minimum wage's effects on economic variables, but more recent theories consider the social and political implications of minimum wage policies. Policymakers and scholars should keep the political and social character of the minimum wage in the United States in mind, especially during contemporary rare moments of political institutional unity that allow for major shifts in minimum wage policy.