For months, the buzzword around Capitol Hill has seemed to be “minimum wage.” Politicians from both parties have been in a heated debate over whether or not the minimum wage should or should not be increased. Those against it say it will lose millions of jobs due to increased labor costs. Those in favor of raising it say it will help many struggling families with increased cash flow as well as help pump spending and money into the American economy. But when it comes down to it, this debate is relatively pointless.
Why can’t the government just raise the minimum wage and then index it so it increases at a steady rate similar to inflation? Then we can finally move on to bigger, actual issues in our economy. Issues like preventing another shutdown, closing the income inequality gap or helping eliminate the cycle of poverty.
Alas, politicians, news reporters, and business columnists––myself included––seem to be so caught up in the minimum wage debate that we are all losing focus of what the real issue is: the real issue being the widening income inequality between the upper and lower class—effectively pushing the middle class out of existence––a topic I have touched on in recent months.
But focusing on the current debate sweeping the 24-hour news cycle, minimum wage is THE hot topic of today. This should not be. Looking at the numbers, those living on minimum wage make up a very small percentage of workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics characterize the group of workers on minimum wage as drastically different than the image you or I might picture.
About 60 percent of those earning minimum wage are in the fast food or food service industry. Almost half of the workers are under the age of 25. Most striking of all is that only 4.7 percent of workers who are paid hourly are even working at the minimum wage level. The statistics show an underwhelming fact that, in reality, raising the minimum wage just won’t really be a game changer like many are saying.
3.6 million people would see their hourly wages increase (Remember there are just over 300 million people living in America). Half of those 3.6 million are young workers like you and I who will most likely see large increases in income regardless because of our future careers.
Thus, I come back to my earlier statement: Just raise the minimum wage already! People living year-to-year at or slightly above minimum wage do not deserve to be in that financial situation. From a basic ethical standpoint, these people don’t deserve to live like this. In the “greatest country in the world” an individual should not have to work 40 hours per week for 50 weeks per year and still be barely over the poverty line.
While many minimum wage workers are simply 16-year-old fry cooks at Burger King, there are many more out there with families, spouses and bills that simply cannot be supported on seven dollars and twenty-five cents per hour.
As for the detractors, what could possibly be a long-term benefit to never paying someone more than seven dollars and twenty-five cents per hour? Do these individuals not understand the concept of inflation? Or are they convinced that businesses across the nation will shut down instead of, I don’t know, simply raising their prices instead?
I for one know there will never be a day I refuse to pay two dollars more for my Big Mac meal if it means the person taking my order doesn’t have to live paycheck to paycheck on minimum wage. That’s a perspective I wish more people in the country could take.
We must stop obsessing over the money, the precious businesses and the bottom line. Remember to be empathetic to the individual. The employee. The human being behind the counter. Then we will be able to move on from this petty minimum wage debate and focus on more pertinent issues in our society. Until then, let’s push for a minimum wage increase and inflation index combo––and yes, I’d like fries with that.
