Minimum Wage
The minimum wage is up for revision in a lot of places and some are calling for the federal standard to be raised as well. It makes sense that someone’s pay should be proportionate to the difficulty and necessity of their work, but it’s also true that it should keep up with inflation. The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour, though many cities and states pay more, and increasing numbers of workers are finding it harder and harder to get by on what is no longer considered a “living” wage.
The idea of a minimum wage came from the days when robber barons would work their employees to the bone and pay them peanuts. It’s only fair that there should be standards in what people get paid, right? If you want to run a business and you want your workers to stick around it only makes sense to have to pay them no less than a certain wage, otherwise you might as well just ask for volunteers. A lot of ultra-capitalists think this hurts businesses and consumers alike under the assumption that in order to keep their profits where they want them companies will raise prices if they have to pay their workers more. In a way this makes sense, but who is really the “bad guy” in a situation like that? Is it wrong for people who work hard to want a wage that’s sufficient to provide for them and their families? Or is it the company that has such a high goal for profits that refuses to compromise to treat their workers a little better? After all, the richest of executives are nothing without their workers. And besides, giving consumers more money increases their spending power. They more they make an hour the more they’re going to spend on the same services and products their employers provide.
Many turn out to protest and demonstrate in support of a higher minimum wage.
Of course, there are people who don’t want to raise the minimum wage because they feel that the people requesting it don’t work “good” enough jobs to deserve it. Seemingly any time a part of someone’s order is left out or incorrect when they order fast food they make the remark, “And these people want $15 an hour?” Looking at the big picture, that isn’t a very fair assessment of the situation. Fast food workers are some of the most vocal proponents of a living wage, because they almost always make minimum wage or only a little above it, and the work is actually very stressful. People seem to think that just because working in fast food is a common beginner job for teenagers that they’re the only people who work in that industry. Greater numbers of people in their later years can be found working in fast food restaurants today than in the past, and a lot of these employees have children to provide for. Sure, you can say, “Well, if they couldn’t afford a kid they should have been more responsible and not had one.” Well, as anyone with a brain knows, sometimes life doesn’t work out like you planned. Some people are undereducated and under qualified as well due to circumstances that can be out of their control and for this reason they’re forced to seek out meager sources of employment. You need to go to college (in some cases) to make good money and you need good money to go to college, so you’re kind of up the creek in both directions.
Personally, I’m still a bit conflicted about the topic myself. I definitely think there needs to be a minimum wage that is fair and that people can live on, but what would happen if it actually became $15 an hour is hard to predict. Companies may very well raise prices, and no one wants that. Though the amount of the increase could be negligible in cases of huge businesses that produce a plethora of products. Another common sense response to this could be companies either cutting their employees’ hours and/or laying some of them off. A lot of service industry jobs already strictly limit the number of hours their employees can work in a week so they don’t have to pay for health insurance or overtime. If you really think about it, of the jobs that pay minimum wage many are part-time. So more money for working limited hours weekly and not getting insurance, a 401(k), or overtime only seems reasonable, doesn’t it? My only concern about it is the idea that people who started in the working world prior to the possible change. Let’s say you started working at $7.25 an hour when it was the minimum wage and you worked very hard for many years. All of your hard work, promotions, and new opportunities brought your pay up to, say, $15 an hour. You busted your hump and doubled your pay on your own merit and efforts. Aren’t you going to feel cheated when all of a sudden everyone who works any job for any amount of time (save for those who work for tips in some cases) is automatically making the same amount? What if you make over $15 an hour? Let’s say you’re an office worker and you still worked hard to succeed and put in years working for less than the new minimum wage. Would you be upset when everyone else is making just a few dollars less than you right off the bat? Do you think the big wigs would care enough to give everyone proportionate raises? I think not.
Maybe that’s a bit cynical. Maybe people should just be happy that others are happy and they shouldn’t care how much money they make versus someone else so long as they’re both feeding their families. Either way, if we double the minimum wage it isn’t going to be good news for everyone and the outcome when it comes to morale, prices, and employment is hazy at best.
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