The current minimum wage within the state of Mississippi is $7.25 an hour, which is the lowest possible minimum wage within a state according to federal mandate.
As a result, progressive politicians have run and won on the promise of raising the minimum wage. These politicians turn the minimum wage issue into a moral one, claiming a raise is a decent and necessary thing for the American people. This is a falsehood. The minimum wage is a leech on the American economy, and benefits no one except the politicians who propose such absurd legislation.
In 1988, the New York Times released an editorial dispelling the illusion the minimum wage casts, saying, “Raising the minimum wage is not cost-free, just cost-concealing. Congress owes the working poor well-designed help, not a well-intentioned illusion.”
Thirty years later, those wise words still ring true. The minimum wage, as a concept, should be holistically abolished for the countless problems it brings to workers, employers and, most importantly, consumers. 
Minimum wage hikes hurt the very people they are supposed to help the most: workers in low-paying jobs. It is critical to remember the minimum wage does not guarantee jobs, it only ensures those who have jobs are paid a certain wage in compliance with government standards. Labor is a resource, and just like any other resource, it costs money to utilize it.
The minimum wage puts a fixed price on this resource, and if a company cannot afford this resource at the fixed price, they must buy less to stay within their means. This means less jobs and less people employed. People become priced out of the job market.
According to Frayda Levin of Capital Flows for Forbes,”The Congressional Budget Office concluded in 2014 that a $10.10 minimum wage would price some 500,000 people out of their jobs. A $15 minimum wage would undoubtedly lead to even higher losses, potentially in the millions.”
Minimum wage is a job killer for workers. People who never become employed will be unable to reap the benefits of increased earnings. The minimum wage dictates how much an employer must pay per hour, but not necessarily how much an employer must pay per week. In addition to lay-offs, employers can reduce weekly working hours to further minimize the costs of the minimum wage hike: a pay-cut to employees.
Finally, the minimum wage cripples young workers’ ability to find an entry job to begin a career. Employers need to spend valuable, limited financial resources on the most qualified candidates for jobs. Employers cannot afford to take risks on new workers if experience is vital, and young people are not worth taking the risk because the minimal amount employers can pay them is too high for their skillset. 
The drain on the economy minimum wage brings does not only cripple workers’ earning potential, but also makes it more difficult for the employer to succeed in business, and forces the consumer to pay for this virtue-signaling policy. Employers and aspiring entrepreneurs are discouraged from beginning or growing a business due to minimum wage laws.
All businesses start small, and during the beginning stages, savvy business owners are forced to measure costs to keep their businesses alive prior to their creation. These small businesses cannot afford to pay the wages necessary to accommodate minimum wage laws and keep their businesses fully staffed, so these aspiring entrepreneurs simply believe the reward is not worth the risk associated with the venture.
A business that never exists will never employ anyone, this is an opportunity cost that cannot be measured. If the minimum wage was not mandated, these businesses would be created and more people could be employed. Regardless of however low the wage is, it would be a more desirable outcome than unemployment.
Of course, the most dramatic effects of minimum wage laws would hurt the consumer the most in all aspects of the economy. Increases in expenses, especially that of labor, forces employers to find additional methods of bringing in more revenue. The most obvious solution is to raise prices on their goods and services to overcome the cost of labor.
Increases in prices force individuals to spend more for less, and all potential buying power an increase in wages brings is undone by higher prices. Minimum wage benefits political images of a select group of politicians at the expense of everyone’s wallet. 
The minimum wage is an idea that seems to be a moral imperative for a healthy economy and fair pay for honest work; but in reality, it is a job-killer and a detriment to economic prosperity. Pricing people out of job markets makes them unemployable, and therefore, never able to get the necessary job in which a future can be built.
Building a minimum wage safety net is irrelevant if an individual will never have a job in the first place. It is time politicians recognize this truth, allow the laws of supply and demand to govern wages and salary, and allow business, not government, to conduct business.