I agree. I also favor a raise in the minimum for the reasons I've already stated. The main one being that I prefer a more honest labor market where minimum wage employers pay wages that more closely reflect the true cost of minimum wage workers. That true cost includes not only the wages and benefits the employer pays but also the subsidies that the workers receive from other sources to meet their living expenses. I also firmly believe that exploiting low wages just because one can in a below "full employment" market weakens the economy by exacerbating the transfer of wealth from the bottom to the top of the income spectrum. In the long run, this is very unhealthy for an economy. As I have stated in other ways, I believe that increasing low wage dollars increases consumption more rapidly and more effectively than increasing high-wage dollars. When we are below full employment, an economy needs consumption more than saving. I'm guessing the boost the economy will experience from raising the minimum will outweigh negative effects. Finally, I believe that the problem of off-shoring can't be addressed by maintaining a minimum wage where it is now, well below the true cost of labor. To be effective in addressing labor off-shoring, the minimum wage would have to be drastically reduced. Were the minimum wage eliminated, as some economists propose, the off-shoring problem would remain. Even if unfettered by minimum wage laws, wages would not fall in the U.S. enough to be competitive with those in developing economies . There are much better ways of dealing with off-shoring. But apparently economists won't be much help in deciding what to do. http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/01/economist-explains-11