Rep. Lauren Boebert, Republican of Colorado, seemed to suggest that the national minimum wage should be lowered, claiming that the high teenage unemployment rate is due to it being too expensive for companies to hire young people.
Boebert made the comment in response to a tweet from Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky.
“No taxes on workers under 18 yrs old. I love it because: 1. They need experience to pick a college major. 2. They need to develop a work ethic. 3. The economy needs more workers. 4. They don’t get to vote,” Massie said.
Boebert replied, “So many of our youth have lost the opportunity to enter the workforce due to high minimum wage requirements,” she wrote. “High taxes, insurance, and paid leave requirements are a few of many issues as well. Small business owners are unable to invest in first-time workers or provide them with skills training for their future.”
So many of our youth have lost the opportunity to enter the workforce due to high minimum wage requirements. High taxes, insurance, and paid leave requirements are a few of many issues as well. Small business owners are unable to invest in first-time workers or provide them…— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 26, 2025
The federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 an hour since 2009. If someone worked 40 hours a week for all 52 weeks in the year and took no days off, they would only earn $15,080—a salary below the poverty line and impossible for anyone to live on. In Boebert’s state of Colorado, the minimum wage is $14.81.
Boebert has long argued that the minimum wage is too high.
In 2022, she claimed that a higher minimum wage would have prevented her from getting her first job at McDonald’s when she was 15 years old.
Lauren Boebert says raising the minimum wage “robs” young people and stops businesses wanting to “invest” in them. pic.twitter.com/O29375PzLn— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) August 9, 2022
Opposing a livable minimum wage is bad politics, as polling shows that voters overwhelmingly believe that the federal minimum wage is too low and should be raised.
A Data for Progress poll from April 2024 found that 86% of voters believe the federal minimum wage should be increased. That number is nearly identical between Democrats, Republicans, and independents.
Similarly, Civiqs’ poll on minimum wage found that just 5% of voters believe the federal minimum wage should be lower than $7.25 an hour, as Boebert seems to suggest.
But a number of Republicans, including President Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary nominee Scott Bessent, are against increasing the federal minimum wage.
Bessent, a billionaire hedge fund manager, said during his confirmation hearing that he doesn’t think it’s time to increase the federal minimum wage.
“I believe that the minimum wage is more of a statewide and regional issue,” he said.
While it is true that the unemployment rate is the highest for workers between the ages of 16 and 17, it isn’t because the minimum wage is too high.
Rather, it’s because the labor force participation rate is currently higher, and older workers with more experience and skills are getting jobs over inexperienced youth, according to an S&P Global report.
But that fact doesn’t seem to matter to Boebert.
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