Proposals to raise the minimum wage provoke strong opinions from voters like Roberts and Relles, and an equally heated debate has been raging for years between two University of California economists over whether such mandated pay hikes lead to a drop in the number of jobs for the very workers they’re intended to help. … Down in Southern California at UC Irvine, however, economist David Neumark has disputed Reich’s findings. Neumark said that his studies and dozens of studies he has reviewed have shown that past minimum wage increases by about two dozen states have resulted in job losses, especially among the least-skilled workers. 

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