Life of Julius

My first job was doing dishes, scrubbing pots and pans and scrubbing floors at a country club in my hometown.

I was paid less than minimum wage at the time, the princely sum of $1.55 per hour.  I loved the job.  I held it all through high school.  When work was slack I was allowed to do homework and the management fed me a free meal each night I worked, whatever I liked.  I saved the sum of $3,000 for college, a not inconsiderable sum at the time.  The most important part of the job was what it taught me:  showing up on time, working hard and learning to work with other people.  I learned more on that first job of value to me in my future life, than any of the classes I took in college or law school.  Too many kids are denied this opportunity today because of government polices like the minimum wage that act as a deterrent to employers hiring employees, especially green kids with no employment track history.  If we wished to design a system that would handicap young people from becoming productive workers building a future for themselves, I think we would be hard pressed to “improve” on current policies: