Raise it to stimulate the economy. Raise it for economic justice. Raise it to tell Springfield and Washington you want public policy based on honest analysis, not partisan brinkmanship. Raise it to tell WalMart you’re tired of subsiding its profits.
The Nov. 4 ballot includes an advisory referendum to increase the state’s hourly minimum wage from $8.25 to $10.
Support for the ballot measures includes League of Women Voters, many unions and trade associations and economists like Paul Krugman of The New York Times. Some social service providers have concerns.
The current minimum wage means all taxpayers are subsidizing WalMart and other corporations that make huge profit while their full-time hourly people earn salaries below the federal poverty level, thereby qualifying for federal assistance in the form of earned income tax credit, food stamps, Medicaid and housing subsidies. All taxpayers cover the cost of these subsidies (about $316 billion a year) while corporations reap the benefits. This is an example of public cost, private gain. Trickle down economics is a paternalistic, myopic myth.
The present minimum wage amounts to a salary of $17,160 a year, below the Federal Poverty Level of $19,790 for a family of three.
The Seattle Human Services Coalition cautions that although it expects the increase in minimum wage will include non-profit human service employees, it’s concerned these agencies can’t “raise prices” to cover increased salaries. They will depend on additional public and private funding or will be forced to cut services and lay off employees. The coalition said eligibility for childcare and other subsidies must also be increased.
Over the past 40 years, increases in the minimum wage have fallen below inflation while worker productivity has doubled. If the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since 1968, it would be more than $10.65 today. Increases in minimum wage mean workers can increase spending, stimulating the economy for everyone.
Krugman has written that rising income inequality may be the biggest challenge facing our country. Regions that have increased the minimum wage, have not experienced increasing layoffs and unemployment.
States that raised the minimum wage during high unemployment saw job growth surpassing the national average.
The UAW has written rising income inequality takes everyone down. If workers have no money, businesses have no customers. In the recession of 2008, 60 percent of the jobs lost were middle income jobs, yet 59 percent of the new jobs created since the recession are minimum wage. By 2020, 48 percent of American jobs will be service sector, minimum-wage jobs. People in those jobs should not be forced to subsidize corporate profits.
A low minimum wage is a great deal for WalMart and other corporations. Expect corporations to fight to maintain low wages, to flood the media with misleading ads, to funnel money to targeted politicians and to use the ultimate threat of closing stores and leaving the state. Too bad corporations view a fair increase in minimum wage as an added expense rather than an expansion of their customer base.
The Nov. 4 referendum is advisory. Passage will send a strong message to Springfield that we support passage of Senate Bill 68 sponsored by Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Westchester, calling for a statewide increase in the minimum wage.
“The one-time academic controversy over the impact of minimum wage increases on jobs is no longer a controversy. The most rigorous statistical studies overwhelmingly show that minimum wage increases target wage growth to the neediest workers, and they do so without causing job losses.” Marc Doussard, assistant professor, University of Illinois