Ease burden on employers
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JEFF JACOBY makes a strong argument that the law of supply and demand does not bend in favor of creating soft landings for semiskilled and unskilled workers on the low end of the wage scale. Basic economic theory teaches that low product demand (including labor) will lead to excesses - in this case, higher unemployment in that sector. He correctly concludes that setting a higher minimum wage merely exacerbates the problem.
Yet sadly, many on the ideological right take comfort in merely challenging worthwhile social policies while failing to offer useful options for change. Here’s one possibility. I contend that it is socially and economically desirable to have more low-wage people employed than not - even Jacoby offhandedly acknowledges this. Rather than requiring businesses, especially smaller ones, to bear the full cost of an increased minimum wage, government could ease the burden by lowering business taxes on those who hire low-wage employees. The marginal cost to society due to short-term revenue loss would be more than offset by higher economic and social benefits.
Theodore A. Johnson, Stow 
