Florida One of 10 States Increasing Minimum Wage in 2013

The Daily Caller reports that 10 states -- including Florida -- have increased or will be increasing their minimum wages this year, and reminds readers of the potentially disastrous economic ramifications of it.

The article notes that "[t]he last time the minimum wage was increased ... nearly 600,000 teen jobs disappeared, despite a growing economy, as employers sought to offset rising labor costs by eliminating jobs held by their lowest-skilled and least-experienced employees."

[The minimum wage is] not a cure-all to poverty, the piece quotes Bob Pollin of the University of Massachusettsat Amherst.In fact, the biggest source of low-income poverty is that people dont have jobs at all. ... [Apart from making it more expensive to hire low-skilled workers, an increased minimum wage could make t]he prices of the products ... go up. And you will also see some reduction in the profits of the business owners.

When you raise the price of anything, people take less of it, including labor, Forbes contributor William Dunkelberg is quoted as saying.Workers of all ages that are relatively unskilled are adversely impacted by this policy. ...The impact of raising the minimum wage in 2009 on teen employment makes it very clear that this is especially harmful for young teen workers looking for their first opportunity to have a job."

Florida has one of the highest minimum wages in the nation, at $7.79/hr.; the federal minimum is $7.25/hr.