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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Employment

News                                                                                                                             
Politico | Jobless benefits: The GOP’s search for an exit
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has vowed to press the GOP on unemployment benefits — forcing them to keep taking votes on a bill to extend aid to the long-term unemployed. But Republicans have rejected it twice since the program expired on Dec. 28.
CNN Money | Raising minimum wage would ease poverty but cost some jobs
Supporters of raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour say it will increase productivity, lower turnover and increase wages for 28 million workers.

Econ Comments & Analysis                                                                                            
Bloomberg | Teenagers Spurn Working as School in U.S. Takes Priority
Akil Alvin, 19 and from Detroit, is struggling to land a job as he competes with older, more skilled applicants. Alex Lothspeich, 17 and from Charlotte, North Carolina, is choosing not to enter the workforce to focus on high school.
WSJ | Hurting the 0.3%
White House economic policy can be more than a little confusing these days. Among its novel claims of late have been that paying people longer not to work is a jobs stimulus, and that ObamaCare's incentives not to work are a virtue. Now comes news that a higher minimum wage is splendid even if it throws half a million poor people out of work.
CBO | The Effects of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income
Increasing the minimum wage would have two principal effects on low-wage workers. Most of them would receive higher pay that would increase their family’s income, and some of those families would see their income rise above the federal poverty threshold. But some jobs for low-wage workers would probably be eliminated, the income of most workers who became jobless would fall substantially, and the share of low-wage workers who were employed would probably fall slightly.