I just read an article about a law setting a minimum per hour wage payment. From the economic perspective of supply and demand, this rule makes no sense at all and will ultimately lead to unemployment. Basically, in the labor market, there is an equilibrium point at which labor supply and labor demand expectations are satisfied. At this point, labor market will employ everyone who is willing to be employed at the given wage (w0). Now consider a case, when wage rates are set to w1 which is higher than w0. In such a case, the demand for labor drops to L2 since the cost of operations for firms go up. However, it becomes more lucrative to work now since the salaries are higher and hence L1 number of people wanting to work.
We now have situation where the number of people looking for work far exceeds the labor needed by the industries. This leads to a net unemployment of L1 - L2.
The need of the hour is to increase demand which would lead to demand of higher quantity of labors. This can achieved through policy which supports technological innovation and/or adding more capital (machines) through the means of private-sector investment.
A similar case for equal wage for equal work was refuted by Milton Friedman. I would recommend seeing this video.
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