It goes without saying that if you remove the price floor for labor, the amount of labor consumed by the market goes up.
But is it good for the laborers themselves? Or for society at large?
Do minimum wage laws or lack thereof correlate with broader measures of wellness and prosperity? How do countries with and without minimum wages compare on life expectancy, infant mortality, obesity rates, cancer rates, median disposable income, median wealth or net worth, suicide rates, divorce rates, accident rates, vacation time or leisure time, levels of pollution? How about harder to quantify stuff such as happiness, contentment, and stress levels?
The market exists to serve human needs and wants. "GDP go up" is not the point of all this effort.
But is it good for the laborers themselves? Or for society at large?
Do minimum wage laws or lack thereof correlate with broader measures of wellness and prosperity? How do countries with and without minimum wages compare on life expectancy, infant mortality, obesity rates, cancer rates, median disposable income, median wealth or net worth, suicide rates, divorce rates, accident rates, vacation time or leisure time, levels of pollution? How about harder to quantify stuff such as happiness, contentment, and stress levels?
The market exists to serve human needs and wants. "GDP go up" is not the point of all this effort.