The federal minimum wage level has not been raised in eight years - yet over those eight years, inflation has brought up prices and the cost of living is much higher. Today, the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour is only 33 percent of the average American wage. A nation that promises the right to the pursuit of happiness can do better.
After the "welfare reform" of former President Bill Clinton, millions of people were forced off welfare rolls and into the workplace - a workplace that will take advantage of low-wage workers who need jobs and have nowhere else to turn.
A worker who works full-time on minimum wage earns just over $10,700 per year. There are 15 million workers on minimum wage and 75 percent of them are adults - meaning that millions of people in America must purchase a place to live, groceries, health care, education and other basic necessities with that small amount. The current level of the minimum wage is a vicious assault on single mothers in particular, who are forced to support a family on less than $11,000 per year.
Business will only pay workers on the lowest rung the minimum amount required, thereby taking advantage of people who need to work in order to support themselves or their families. Government needs to step into the situation and ensure that citizens are not being unfairly exploited and deprived of what is needed to have a decent life. This is why the minimum wage was created in the first place, and this is why it must keep up with the cost of living in America.
Our country, by far the most prosperous in the world, has 36 million citizens living below the poverty line - this is simply unacceptable. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure a significant part of the population is not living in poverty, since the free market is clearly unconcerned with this fact. The minimum wage should be increased to at least $7 per hour, as Sen. John Kerry has promised to do if elected.
How our nation treats the workforce and ensures citizens are not being forced to work at unfairly low levels is a good measure of our collective values as a nation. It's time for the government to extend the right to pursue happiness to all Americans.
View Counter-point by Silas Rader
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
