osing their jobs, and falling further into poverty
             and government assistance. One authority writes,
             Clearly, increasing the minimum wage helps some families escape
             poverty, which is why many legislators advocate an increase. However,
             the employment losses resulting from an increase in the minimum wage
             actually appear to increase poverty. As Neumark et al note, "the net
             effect of minimum wages is an increase in the proportion of poor
             families." They estimate an increase of 4.5 percent in the number of
             poor families, and 3.6 percent in the number of near-poor famil
             ...