"The higher state minimum wage that went into effect in 2005 added to the challenge of funding SYEP [the youth employment program] by increasing the cost per participant, making it difficult to keep SYEP enrollment levels the same without year-over-year budget increases or additional administrative cuts."

The fact that minimum wage laws effectively push the youngest and lowest skilled workers out of the work force is well documented, and predicted by economists. When the minimum cost of a new hire goes up, businesses will be much more selective in who they choose. They may be willing to give an unproven and unskilled young teen her first job at $5.40/hour, but at $7.40 it may be too costly to risk.

Michigan's minimum wage just went up from $6.95/hour to $7.15, and will go up to $7.40 in 2008. The federal minimum is $5.15.

While $7.15 an hour may seem like too little to live on, the fact is most minimum wage earners are not living on their earnings. As the Wall Street Journal recently noted,

"...most people who are poor already earn more than the minimum, and most who do earn the minimum aren't living in poverty. They are retirees, homemakers, part-time workers, and teenagers ..."

Raising the minimum wage is analogous to removing the bottom rungs of the ladder to prosperity; many unskilled and younger workers cannot reach the higher rungs without their first job, and many cannot get that first job at today's enforced higher wages. It's best to leave employees and employers free to negotiate wages on thier own, without a government panel arbitrarily enforcing a certain amount.