No jobs for teens? Thank the minimum wage
To the editor:
The Review-Journal's Monday article about the tough job market for teens neglected to mention a key factor in this ever-growing crisis ("Valley teens competing with older people for summer work"). Teens in the job hunt will continue to find the search difficult as long as policymakers continue to increase labor costs on small businesses through minimum wage mandates.
Research from the University of Georgia in 2006 found that every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage was associated with a 4.6 to 9 percent decline in teenage employment in small businesses. If historical and economic evidence are any guide, the number of jobless teens will continue to rise as we approach yet another minimum wage hike in July.
When entry-level job hunters are not able to find work, they lose more than just a paycheck. They are denied the "invisible curriculum" that comes with having a first job, including important skills like reporting to a supervisor, meeting deadlines and learning teamwork skills with co-workers. Unfortunately, the unintended consequences of minimum wage hikes will deny Nevada teens that opportunity this summer.
Kristen Lopez Eastlick
WASHINGTON, D.C.
THE WRITER IS A SENIOR ECONOMIC ANALYST WITH THE EMPLOYMENT POLICIES INSTITUTE.
Bad publicity
To the editor:
So, President Obama will not meet with Gov. Jim Gibbons when he comes to Nevada to campaign for Sen. Harry Reid.
While Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman spoke out initially when President Obama first made his comments about companies coming to Las Vegas, he pulled back rather quickly. President Obama's criticism of Las Vegas was very irresponsible. Has anyone noticed that no Nevada Democrat has spoken out against what President Obama said? Obviously, they only care about themselves. Las Vegas has lost more than $100 million in convention business, and that's not counting gaming revenue.
I realize Gov. Gibbons is not very popular with the people of Nevada right now, but he is our governor. He should be shown some respect by our president. Nevada has a lot to lose and nothing to gain by ignoring this.
Rae Harbour
NORTH LAS VEGAS
Outdated data
To the editor:
Will someone put a sock in economists' mouths? I'm tired of the media making them Gods of Prophecy. They have been wrong on almost everything they've predicted. Yet we still quote them as though their words were gold.
The trouble with them is that they try to predict the future by looking at the past. Friday's newspaper quoted UNLV's Keith Schwer as looking at indicators from February. They're driving down the freeway looking in the rear-view mirror.
As long as the traffic in front is the same as behind they do well, but as soon as something changes up front, they won't see it until they hit it or it's behind them. They can't predict change.
Friday's article, "Economy still looking down," laments that all of April's economic indicators (from February data) are down. Please, will someone give them a calendar. This isn't February; we're halfway through May. In February the stock market hadn't yet bottomed out. In February, we hadn't yet experienced four months of increased consumer confidence. In February, we had just barely started to show double-digit increases in existing home sales, etc., etc.
Here are my indicators, in addition to the ones I mention above. I work in the staffing industry. We're seeing new job orders from employers who haven't contacted us in nearly a year. Retail distribution centers are adding to their workers, indicating that someone must be buying something somewhere. Title companies are swamped with work and are hiring.
Go ahead, economists. Play with your outdated data. I'm looking at what's happening today, and I like it.
Tom Haynie
LAS VEGAS
Electoral College
To the editor:
Is Barry Fadem serious? ("Ensuring Nevadans their presidential vote will count," May 15 Review-Journal).
To come into Nevada and tell us the National Popular Vote bill is in our best interest -- both as individuals and as a state -- is trying to sell us Enron stock. Actually, Enron is probably worth more to us than Assembly Bill 413, which, thankfully, died in committee last week.
The proposal would have created a working version of Orwell's "Animal Farm" where all the votes are equal, but some are more equal than others. Not only would the presidential election be decided by a dozen or so states (Nevada will absolutely not be one of them), but the vote will be decided by the large metro areas within those states, minimizing the voice of the minority even more.
If eventually enacted here and in other states, the National Popular Vote plan will render every single vote in Nevada politically irrelevant, and our state will be nothing but a spectator forever.
KNIGHT ALLEN
LAS VEGAS
