It is difficult to say with certainty how raising the minimum wage alone affects earnings and employment, given that wages and employment naturally also are influenced by other economic conditions, said Charles Brown, an economics professor at the University of Michigan who has studied the minimum wage for decades. That explains some of the disagreement among researchers.¶¶In the short term, it appears that several recent studies have aligned around the notion that the number of workers who see their wages rise will be greater than the number who lose their jobs, Brown said. He added that the consensus doesn’t appear as clear when studying what would happen if the minimum wage is sustained at a higher rate over a longer period.