$15/hr minimum wage, 2 of 3

A $15/hour minimum wage is a good idea.

In the past, raising the minimum wage has had little impact on market wages because that’s how it was designed – as a compromise between politicians eager to look like they were doing something. That’s why we should raise it significantly, going from the current $7.25/hour to $15/hour in five years.

This sounds risky, but it’s already been done in Seattle. And business owners approve of it.

Restaurant and bar owner Joey Burgess said, “Every one of my team members deserves a living wage. Low-wage jobs are disproportionately held by people of color, women and immigrants, so the wage increase in Seattle is also a win for racial, gender and social equality.”

Ice cream shop owner Molly Moon Nietzel agreed. “What we know about how mainstreet economies work is that when people have more money in their pockets, the first place they spend it is in restaurants and on food …. I think our citizenry having more money in their pockets coming out of the pandemic is going to be very, very good for restaurant businesses and for small retail in general.”[Source]

Raising wages across the board affected wages for all businesses equally. It has shifted wealth away from corporate headquarters and into the pockets of their lowest-paid employees. If adopted, the Congressional Budget Office has said that a $15/hour minimum wage would lift one million people out of poverty. [Source]

This is the principle Henry Ford hit on when he raised the minimum daily wage in his factory to $5. His high wages led to less turnover, decreased absenteeism, and greater productivity. It helped fuel the growth of the middle class. [Source]

In the past, unions served as a lever to redistribute corporate profits toward those on the low end of the pay scale. Since the decline of unions – there is no longer any forcing function on businesses to raise wages. And we’ve seen the effects. Real wages haven’t risen since the 1970s.[Source]

We need the federal government to institute a $15 minimum wage because we need to fill the void that unions used to play. Given that our economy isn’t dominated by large manufacturing companies like it used to, a federal law is the only way to affect all businesses equally.

As if another reason were necessary, Republicans should consider that it would disproportionately benefit rural areas over urban, Democrat-majority areas. In those areas where the minimum wage is already high, it will have little impact, but a $15/hour wage would be a massive boon to the rural poor. Dual-minimum-wage parents could go back to a single income.

It is true that a $15/hour minimum would reshape the U.S. economy, but the benefit to blue-collar workers – and those left behind by the late 20th Century – would be worth it.