[Renaud]

So, you're saying it's a non issue?

If virtually no one earns $7.25/hr and employers wouldn't dream of offering it, then why not just raise the federal minimum to $12?

If it’s truly irrelevant, then it won’t affect anyone -workers won’t be hurt, and businesses won’t be forced to pay more than they already do. Seems like a win-win, right?

[bpodgursky]

No, because if you pin the minimum wage to wages at full employment, there's no downward flexibility when a recession hits, and you end up with tons of deadweight loss in the labor market.

There's never political will to lower the wage even if economic conditions call for it. There's no benefit to raising the wage now, but there's inevitably a big cost in a few years.

[nozzlegear]

Devil's advocate, but your experiment would be just as effective if they removed the minimum wage too.