This year's incoming freshman class collectively read Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" in UB 101. Ehrenreich chronicles the trials of minimum wage work as she subjects herself to a variety of jobs. No matter how hard she works, Ehrenreich can't earn enough to rise above poverty. New York State is now one step closer to eliminating these kinds of degrading situations by raising the minimum wage.
The New York State Senate mustered up support from two-thirds of its members this week to override Governor George Pataki's veto on a proposed increase in the minimum wage. This resounding example of bipartisan support is a strong indication that the time is ripe to deal with the deplorably low federal minimum wage. Although conservative voices will voice dissent and claim New York State will lose jobs, research shows that this is a myth. Higher minimum wages would mark the beginning of a better life for millions of American workers.
The federal minimum wage has been a meager $5.15 since 1997. The real value of this wage has not kept up with the rate of inflation, leaving many to struggle to raise families on wages that draw yearly incomes below the federal poverty line. A common misconception is that the majority of minimum wage earners are the pimply-faced teenagers at McDonald's. In fact, of the 7.4 million American workers who earn the minimum wage, 72 percent are adults.
Conservatives are quick to deny funding for social programs insisting that those entrenched in poverty should simply buckle down and work hard, but these wages simply do not allow hard-working Americans to rise above poverty. A full-time worker earning the minimum wage would only net $10,712 a year, $4,000 below the federally calculated poverty line for a family of three. At this level, providing for a family beyond food and housing would be difficult. Education and health care often fall by the wayside.
The stagnant minimum wage actually reinforces reliance on social welfare programs, for which conservatives also want to slash funding. Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Head Start, and Medicaid all fill in the gap that these wages leave in providing for a family.
New York's minimum wage will increase to $6 by Jan. 1, 2005 and will incrementally rise to $7.15 by 2007. This is a significant increase, which will hopefully spur other states and the federal government to follow suit. However the new minimum wage still will fall short of a true "living wage." Grassroots organizations around the country have been actively advocating a living wage, which is calculated according to the federal poverty line necessary to support a family of four, approximately $8.20 an hour. This wage would vary from city to city, depending on the cost of living. A living wage would provide the funds necessary for a family's basic needs and is a goal worth striving for.
A popular argument for why minimum wages have been prevented is the threat of job losses. However, this is nothing more than a myth. Following the last increase in the federal minimum wage, the Economic Policy Institute conducted a comprehensive survey of its effects. They failed to find any systematic or significant job losses and in fact they found that the low-wage sector performed better than normal. The cost of an increased wage is reabsorbed as a wage increase leads to higher productivity and greater job stability, which in turn decreases recruiting and training costs and a decrease in absenteeism.
The Spectrum commends the New York State Senate for taking the initiative to increase the minimum wage. The new wage will benefit business with increased productivity, the state with decreased social welfare spending and hard-working New Yorkers with the opportunity to truly provide for their families. And it is ever more important because New York is an influential state. Hopefully this decision will spur action on the federal level, or within other states, and we will be one step closer to a living wage.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
