How might we explain that? How about arguing that there was less racial discrimination in 1948, or back then black teens were more highly educated than white teens? Of course, such arguments would be nonsense. The fact of the matter is that while there was a minimum wage of 40 cents an hour prior to 1948, it had been essentially repealed by the post-World War II inflation; however, with successive increases in the minimum wage, black teen unemployment rose relative to white teens to where it has become permanently double that of white teens.

Walter Williams does not mention in this article the changes in welfare benefits. These stop the statistics he mentions being so powerful The drop in black youth unemployment could be due to rises in such benefits or lower conditionality. However his main point is surely true. And it is not only young blacks who are left out of work - with likely damage to their civility and willingness to remain law-abiding. I visited a small manufacturer East of London who had a middle-aged worker of below-average intelligence and ability. That worker was happy to be paid piece-work. She worked slowly but was still employable on that basis. Then Labour introduced the minimum wage. The woman's employer said she would keep the worker on since she was already with the company. However she would not employ a similar worker in future. A similar person would be unemployed. Certainly she would be on benefits. But, as described in the chapter on Social Security, the psychological effects of unemployment are very damaging.

For the full column by Walter Williams, click here.