Does Holland, Michigan Need Living Wage?
By Lawrence W. Reed Editor’s Note: The issue of a living wage ordinance has recently stirred debate in the west Michigan community of Holland. Below is a letter by Mackinac Center president Lawrence Reed, published in the Holland Sentinel in late November 2002: November 21, 2002 Letters to Editor Holland Sentinel Holland, Michigan Dear Editor: According to a November 21 story by reporter David Jesse, a committee is studying the advisability of requiring the city of Holland, Michigan, and all its contractors to pay their employees a “living wage.” Before going down that path, I hope the city will consider what the weight of economic science and sound policy strongly suggest. Living wage ordinances are usually motivated by the best of intentions but nothing in any of them I’m aware of makes workers more productive. They only make them less affordable. Good intentions aside, no law can by the wave of a wand make a person worth a certain amount by making it illegal to pay him any less. By
