ABSTRACT
This essay first reviews some history of governmental labor market policies, mainly in the United States. It then suggests that high levels of economic freedom are associated with higher prosperity/less poverty. Governmentally imposed constraints and distortions of worker behavior – minimum wage laws, occupational licensing requirements, maximum hours of work regulations, safety rules, laws coercing labor union involvement, public assistance largess and regulations, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, immigration restrictions, mandatory pension (e.g., Social Security) requirements, disability provisions, even high taxes – tend to have unintended consequences. A few of these governmental labor market interventions are examined in some detail.
