Please Stop Helping Us: How Liberals Make It Harder for Blacks to Succeed

by Jason L. Riley

The irony is that the same liberals who complain about the dearth of employment opportunities in the ghetto—from President Obama to the Congressional Black Caucus to black mayors and MSNBC talking heads—are among the loudest defenders of the minimum wage. In his first State of the Union address after being reelected, Obama called for increasing the federal minimum by 24 percent, from $7.25 to $9 an hour, and indexing it to inflation. At the time of the speech in February 2013, unemployment was 7.9 percent overall, but 13.8 percent among blacks (versus 7 percent among whites), 14.5 percent among black men (versus 7.2 percent among white men), and 37.8 percent among black teens (versus 20.8 percent among white teens). In separate interviews, Professors Macpherson and Even told me that several factors contribute to the racial disparities resulting from minimum-wage hikes. “One problem is that I think blacks tend to have, on average, inferior schooling,” Macpherson said. “Also, the effects of the minimum wage differ by industry, and blacks tend to be heavily concentrated in, for example, eating and drinking establishments, where it’s easier to substitute capital for labor.” Geography also plays a role, said Even. “Fifty-seven percent of blacks [between 16 and 24] are in the South. Only a third of whites are. And only a third of Hispanics are.” He added: “The South generally has had lower wages than other parts of the country. And so a minimum of $7.25 is likely to be more bind...