Reddit reviews South Africa's War Against Capitalism

It's interesting to look at the groups who have pushed for minimum wage laws in the past. Economist Walter E Williams, who happens to be black, has written a book on the topic as it relates to South Africa. He points out the during apartheid white unions, who would never allow blacks to join their unions, were the biggest proponents of minimum wage laws. Why would people who hate black people push for minimum wage laws if not for the reason that they create barriers of entry for black people?

Economist Thomas Sowell, who also happens to be black has written than minimum wage laws began in this country as a tool of racist. When the first minimum wage laws were passed, the Wagner Act, black Southern men were moving North and undercutting wages of white Northern railroad unionist. The black guys didn't have the training to work on the railroads and were facing racism from employers. In order to get jobs they were willing to work for less than unionist who wouldn't allow them to join their unions anyway. This willingness to work for less made them more appealing to employers and allowed the black men to gain training and experience. This upset the unions so they pushed for minimum wage laws. When racist railroad employers were forced to pay everyone the same basic wage they stopped hiring black people. Sowell writes that black unemployment before minimum wage laws was lower than that of whites and since the laws were passed it has been higher than whites even up until today. You still see that black teen boy's unemployment rate go up as minimum wage increases.

You saw he same thing in Australia who passed the original minimum wage laws in order to prevent natives from undercutting white salaries. Also in British Columbia, whites pushed for the passage of minimum wage laws to prevent Chinese people from competing with whites in the lumber industry. From British Columbia Male Minimum Wage Act In 1927 "In 1925 there were 55.20 per cent, of white employees and 44.80 per cent of Orientals. In November, 1926, there were 65.70 per cent of white employees and 34.30 per cent of Orientals. "In October, 1927, there were 68.86 per cent of white employees and 31.14 per cent of Orientals. (That is a job loss of 13.66% for Orientals and the same gain for white workers after the minimum wage law was passed.)

>"These figures show plainly that the amount of employment in the thirty-one mills has increased considerably since the Order was made, and that there has also been a marked decrease, both actually and relatively, in the employment of Orientals."


Economist Walter E Williams Minimum Wage As A Racist Tool

Why Racists and Unions Support Minimum Wages - Walter E Williams

Economist Thomas Sowell Why racists love the minimum wage laws

The racist history of the minimum wage: Good intentions aren’t great for black employment

Jim Powell writes that 500,000 black Southern workers lost their jobs when FDR mandated the minimum wage laws in the textile industry.- (How FDR Prolonged the Great Depression
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>"African Americans were the major victims of the NRA. The labor codes, drafted by craft unions that excluded African Americans, specified above-market wages, which effectively outlawed price competition in labor markets. Since large numbers of black workers were unskilled, their best hope was to work at a lower rate and get on-the-job experience that would increase their skills and their ability to compete.

>"Because of the NRA, wages in the South's largest industry, textiles, increased by almost 70 percent in five months," reported George Mason University law professor David E Bernstein. "Employers responded to such massive wage increases by investing in mechanization and dismissing their unskilled workers." Some 500,000 black workers were estimates to have lost their jobs because of the NRA's minimum wage codes."

>"Black workers were big losers under the National labor Relations Act, hailed as the "Magna Carta" of compulsory unionism. "To the extent that the Wager Act raised wages and labor standards beyond market levels," wrote Bernstein, "it had the same effect as a minimum wage law in eliminating marginal African American jobs."