Bloomberg article on why teenagers are not in the labor force ignores obvious reason

Article here

Excerpt:

Just one in three teens in the U.S. worked or looked for a job in January, a record-low since 1948 when the Labor Department data starts. That lack of on-the-job experience could cost future workers, who may lag behind on basic skills their parents developed waiting tables or running registers, some economists say.

Why would teenagers choose to not be in the labor force?  The obvious answer is that the unemployment rate is so high that workers are discouraged and dropping out of the labor force.  Many don't want to search for a job when 25% of those who are actively looking can't find one.

And why is the unemployment rate so high?  Clearly the minimum wage is the biggest reason.  (See here for previous blog post on the issue.)  Unfortunately, this Bloomberg article didn't once mention the minimum wage.

Another excerpt:

Forgone starter jobs probably won’t cost those who earn a college degree, said Harry Holzer, a professor of public policy at Georgetown University in Washington, and former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Labor. 

“If you’re going onto college anyway, especially a four-year college, and the job you would have is serving up pizza slices, then you’re not missing out on anything important,” he said.

I disagree with this.  Further, this is demeaning to those who are "serving up pizza slices".  Those individuals, along with people who work jobs like what I had, at a fast-food restaurant, learn to show up for work when required, to answer to a boss, to deal with customers, and how to be responsible.  These are skills that are crucial to career success, and not having these skills can set back a college graduate dramatically in his/her quest for a promotion and career advancement.

My new piece in Forbes on the gender wage gap

Link here

Excerpt:

If you insist that the gender wage gap is a result of discrimination against women, here are a few other claims that must be equally true. By the same logic, young men are discriminated against in favor of young women. Women in their 20s without children out-earn men by as much as $1.08 to every dollar, according to some estimates. It must also be true that white men are discriminated against in favor of Asian-American men, who earn over 5 percent more than white men. To claim either of these as discrimination would be ridiculous, though, right? There are differences in job types, education levels, hours worked, and other factors that lead to these wage differentials.  But these factors are just as responsible for the overall difference in wages between men and women.

George Soros censors the press with help from universities

Link here

Excerpt:

The FCC may have suspended its invasion into American newsrooms, but the controversial "Critical Information Needs" study also has George Soros' fingerprints all over it.

While disturbing, this should come as no surprise since Soros' gave more than $52 million to media organizations from 2000-2010.

Two schools were working with FCC on the project, according to Byron York of The Washington Examiner. The University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Communication and Democracy, were tasked by the FCC with coming up with criteria for what information is "critical" for Americans to have. The FCC study would have covered newspapers, websites, radio and television, according to The Washington Post.

This is sad, but unfortunately there are university professors at most universities who will claim they support the first amendment but then publicly support the fairness doctrine, which would put in government restrictions on press outlets and violating the first amendment.

Guess which business is closed on President's Day

Guess which business is closed on President's Day?

1. The grocery story (run by companies seeking profits)

2. The gas station (run by companies seeking profits)

3. The wine and liquor store, which is run by the Pennsylvania government.

Tough one, right?

My paper on smokeless tobacco published in Preventive Medicine

Link here

Abstract

Introduction

Epidemiological and toxicological evidence suggests lower risk of smokeless tobacco (ST) products compared to cigarettes. Less is known, however, about consumer perceptions and use of novel forms of ST, including snus and dissolvable tobacco.

Methods

In this study, we conducted in-person experimental auctions in Buffalo, NY, Columbia, SC, and Selinsgrove, PA with 571 smokers to test the impact of information and product trials on smokers' preferences. Auctions were conducted between November 2010–November 2011.

Results

We found no evidence of an impact of product trials on demand in our auctions. Anti-ST information increased demand for cigarettes when presented alone, but when presented with pro-ST information it decreased demand for cigarettes. It did not decrease demand for ST products. Anti-smoking information increased demand for ST products, but did not affect cigarette demand.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that credible and effective communications about tobacco harm reduction should reinforce the negative effects of smoking.

Good minimum wage article and other links

1. From The Federalist: facts about the minimum wage

2. Thomas Sowell's random thoughts are always interesting

Excerpt: 

I don't happen to like the idea of "stop and frisk." However, I like even less the idea of armed hoodlums going around shooting people. Those who refuse to see that everything has a cost should be confronted with the question: "How many more young blacks are you willing to see shot dead, because you don't like 'stop and frisk'?"

 3. Economics of Downton Abbey (a week old, but I missed it originally)

Excerpt: 

Downton’s soap opera characters are wrestling not only with their emotions, but also with basic Downtonomics: the threat and promise of technological change, burden of inheritance taxes, foreign investment, danger of speculation, need for retirement planning, virtue of investing for growth, and inadequacies of the social safety net. Is the cook, Mrs. Patmore, any less adept with that mixer than your grandmother is with a tablet?

Milton Friedman on minimum wage

Hat tip to The Commonwealth Foundation