Text 1: Economist Patel argues that minimum wage increases reduce employment among low-skill workers. When labor becomes more expensive, she contends, employers respond by cutting hours, automating tasks, or hiring fewer workers. Empirical studies of state-level wage hikes, she claims, consistently show modest job losses among teenagers and less-educated adults.
Text 2: Economist Kim disputes Patel's reading of the evidence. He points to a series of studies comparing adjacent counties across state lines — one with a higher minimum wage, the other without — that found no statistically significant employment effects. The labor market, Kim argues, is not a textbook commodity market; small wage increases simply reduce employer profits without affecting hiring.
The authors most clearly disagree about which of the following?
- Acheck_circle
Whether minimum wage increases reduce employment.
- B
Whether minimum wage policies exist in the United States.
- C
Whether teenagers earn the minimum wage.
- D
Whether labor markets exist.
Explanation
The core disagreement is over the employment effect of minimum wage hikes: Patel says jobs are lost; Kim says no significant effect. B captures this. A, C, and D are not in dispute.