Labor market · Interview · 5 min · 19.09.2026 12:15
The minimum wage and two sides of employment
A floor raises income where the job remains. Where the opening closes, the effect is different.
A minimum wage is a legal floor. If the market wage is already higher, the rule changes little.
If the floor stands above the market price, some workers earn more, and some are no longer hired — especially where a person is easily replaced by a machine or a shorter shift.
So the argument “it helps or it hurts” is unfinished without groups: who keeps the job, who cannot enter, and who pays the higher price.
