Do Minimum Wages Close the Racial Wage Gap?
Twenty-two states are scheduled to increase their minimum wage in 2026. Even though, overall, existing evidence suggests that minimum wage laws reduce employment,
with the largest effects observed in the lowest-skilled groups …. This is likely because a larger share of lower-skilled workers earn the minimum wage.
Some advocates for higher minimum wages nevertheless claim they are necessary to close the earnings gap between black and white workers.
New research, however, finds the opposite:
[J]ob losses and earnings reductions from minimum wage increases are more prevalent for black workers, especially black men. Moreover, large differences in minimum wages could account for roughly 40 percent of the gap in employment rates for lower-skilled workers between areas with high and low black population shares.
Minimum wage laws thus fail to accomplish their purported goals.