Advocates in Maine claim a proposal to raise the state minimum wage will help stimulate the local economy (Sun Journal, March 12). They may wish that were the case, but the economic evidence shows otherwise.

New research from Joseph Sabia, a labor economist at West Point, demonstrates that past increases in the minimum wage have had no positive effect on overall economic growth — and can even have a negative effect on the output of certain industries that employ less-experienced employees.

That’s not the only unintended consequence of a wage hike. The research also finds that each 10 percent increase in the minimum wage decreases teenage employment by as much as 3.6 percent.

Less business output and lost jobs — hardly the way to help Maine workers and boost the economy.

Michael Saltsman, Washington, D.C.

Editor’s note: Michael Saltsman is the research fellow at the Employment Policies Institute, one of several groups created by Berman & Co., a Washington, D.C., firm that lobbies for the restaurant, hotel, alcoholic beverage and tobacco industries, according to sourcewatch.com.