BREITBART B

January 25, 2016 Minimum , Minimum Opportunity Walmart recently announced that it is pulling out of plans to build two new supercenters in Washington D.C.’s poorest neighborhoods. By Alfredo Ortiz

Behind closed doors the company ties for those younger people looking are both ways to modify this proven gave its reason: the city’s $11.50 min- for entry to the market. solution to help those that need it imum wage, which may rise to an Raising the entry-level wage to most without hurting our youth. untenable $15 this November. This $15 is just the wrong medicine be- Another way to address the prob- decision puts the debate over the role cause the ailment hasn’t been properly lems of the 25 years and older adults of entry-level and how they are diagnosed. Raising entry-level working in entry-level jobs is to de- paid back in the news. The bottom for entry-level jobs is like a doctor do- velop a public/private job- line: entry-level jobs need entry-level ing brain surgery on a patient to cure program to give these individuals the wages. The government can mandate a headache. There are much more tar- skills that match their income needs wages but it can’t mandate companies geted solutions to help those workers and help them move away from - to stay open. who need middle class wages but only ing in just a job to starting a career. Cities that want to help the possess entry-level skills. The real is- There are more than 5.8 million un- may have their heart in sue is the 551,000 people over age 25 filled jobs currently in this country, the right place as they consider rais- that are in these entry-level jobs who many of which go unfilled because ing their minimum wages, but aren’t shouldn’t be, and likely are through employers can’t find candidates with considering the opportunities they’re no fault of their own. This is where we the right set of skills to fill those jobs. taking away from young people look- should all focus our energies. The effect of Walmart pulling out ing to start their careers. As an example, the Earned In- of its locations in the poorest parts of So let’s put the problem in per- come Tax Credit, which we have Washington D.C. epitomizes what spective. According to the Bureau of re-named the Working Americans happens when the entry-level wage Labor statistics, of the 77.2 million Credit to more properly help the av- increases: Career opportunities are hourly employees in the U.S., only erage person understand what it is, is reduced. And if entry-level employ- 1.2 million earn the . a bipartisan-supported benefit that ees can’t get an entry-level job, it’s That’s 1.6 percent. Of these minimum directly supplements entry-level in- unlikely that they will build the skills wage employees, 705,000 are between comes on a sliding scale through the necessary to develop successful and the ages of 16-24. This means that tax code. It tops up the paychecks of long-lasting careers. nearly 60 percent of minimum wage those Americans who need it most, Washington D.C.’s youth unem- earners are in entry-level jobs that re- keeping career pathways open and the ployment rate is currently 30 percent, quire entry-level wages. When govern- career ladder free of obstruction. An and even higher in the neighborhoods ments mandate ultra-high minimum expansion to include adults without Walmart planned to enter. In this wages, it can have an unintended and children and a more regular payment sense, the loss of these opportunities deleterious impact on job opportuni- system that would tie with paychecks, because of the minimum wage means Continued on Next Page that some will be left with no other is to earn a living. Going from pay- In this sense, we should consider the career options, limiting their ability check to paycheck is hard and even minimum wage a training wage and for leading self-fulfilling, prosperous harder if you have to work more treat it as such. lives. than one job, and we all want to Walmart’s announcement shows There is a youth help society’s most vulnerable mem- that raising the minimum wage only crisis across the country as a whole. bers survive. But raising the require- stacks the deck further against en- The best way to end it is with a pleth- ments for entry-level jobs to try to try-level employees. Let’s help the ora of entry-level job opportunities. help a fraction of a percent of the minuscule fraction of the workforce But raising the entry-level wage for workforce is the wrong way to go who needs it most with policies that entry-level jobs only exacerbates the about it. don’t cut off opportunities for the problem. Because of artificial wage The best way for employees to rest, especially our young adults. mandates, we are risking a lost gen- earn more is by developing more eration of young workers. skills, and the best way to earn more Alfredo Ortiz is the President and We all understand how hard it skills is through training on the job. CEO of Job Creators Network.