Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler
“Though introduced to improve the lives of society’s most vulnerable workers, mandated minimum wages often have the opposite effect, especially if increased at the rate seen in Spain over the previous six years. When labor becomes more expensive, companies, in particular smaller ones, try to reduce their staff bills, either by cutting hours or laying people off. Often, they fire the least-skilled in order to retain the better-skilled. That’s if they choose to pay the minimum wage at all, which is far from guaranteed in sectors with the highest concentration of workers on the SMI.” (03/20/26)