I did some research into this and saw that states like Washington and Oregon have some of the highest minimum wages in the nation.

Doesn’t seem to be hurting their economies. And their minimum wages are so high because they raise them periodically and peg them to the CPI.

If you take the minimum wage from 20 or 30 years ago and compute where it should be if it kept up with inflation, it would be significantly higher than $5.15.

A single mother with two kids can work a 40-hour a week minimum wage job and a 20-hour a week part time job and still be below the poverty level. She gets no paid sick leave, no paid vacation, no health benefits, and she’s probably relying on family or neighbors to watch her kids while she works.

And after all this… 60 hours a week of menial labor (plus commuting), scrambling to keep her kids cared for while she works so hard, never getting a break, she’s still living in poverty and watching her kids go without.

It’s truly a case of the poor getting poorer.

Posted by: Greg on May 23, 2006 at 8:03 PM

Desperation makes people do bad things, things that are contrary to sound public policy. Desperation makes people sell themselves into indentured servitude… as happens in the Northern Marianas Islands every day, where US labor laws don’t apply, yet US law lets goods made there be labeled as “Made in USA”. (Thanks Tom DeLay!)

As a society, there are certain “free” exchanges that aren’t really free, in the sense that people wind up coerced through circumstances beyond their control into taking what they can get. When employers can take advantage of that desperation, you get immigrants streaming across borders, people working for slave wages in horrific working conditions, and most importantly, you perpetuate an imbalance in the “free market” favoring those who behave most beastly towards workers.

It’s things like our labor laws and minimum wage requirements that have made our working environment more like Europe’s and less like Southeast Asia’s. But if you really want a “wild west” economy, there’s lots of business opportunities in places where chaining 10 year olds to factory equipment is acceptable.

Posted by: Ray on May 24, 2006 at 6:03 PM

I’ve got the opposite opinion. I wrote about this earlier this year. Click my link to read the article.

Posted by: Jason on May 24, 2006 at 9:23 PM

I think minimum wage is misguided. It targets the pay per hour (which is irrelevant) instead of the pay per week. There’s no law that prevents an employer from cutting back hours; we need one of those if we’re ever going to solve the poverty problem!

Maybe we should have a minimum salary law instead. If a mom can only afford to work 20 hours a week, why shouldn’t she get the full $206 that the 40-hour teenager would? That’s penalizing parents who are just trying to do the right thing!

What would happen if we just set a minimum salary of $1000 per month no matter how many hours you are able to work. Wouldn’t all the working poor be better off? So would their families, as they could then take the time to spend a meaningful amount of time with their kids when they get home from school.

In all the talk about welfare reform, the Minimum Wage Welfare System always seems to get left out! It’s probably just because the government (greedy politicians!) doesn’t have to pay for it.

Posted by: Phil on May 25, 2006 at 10:06 AM

Minimum wage is just that, minimum. The “barebone minimum” trademark of the unskilled labor force. So if my teenage son lives at home at makes more than minimum wage, what is he doing with his money? He is not a single parent working for minimum. What about the single parent he works with who cannot work after a certain time and is not always readily available to be called in like my teenage son? How does minimum wage apply then?

I believe that the minimum wage should increase, but that remaining salaries, such as myself, should also increase to keep with inflation, annually. Additionally, I think that with increased wages comes increased responsibility. That way there should be an even distribution of responsibilities.

Posted by: Chris on May 25, 2006 at 11:54 AM

Our cost-of-living increases annually, and gas prices have been soaring over the past few months. I make above minimum wage, and I have a hard time keeping up financially. Imagine what it would be like trying to get by only making $5.15/hour.

Our economy is based on the highest of salaries to the lowest of salaries. We need all ranges to make it work. By increasing the minimum wage, it is actually a boost to the economy and to hard-working people’s net income.

Posted by: Stacy on May 25, 2006 at 1:43 PM

i really am amazed that people enjoying a good salary and living want to “keep down” people making 5.15 an hour…we really can do much better….as we see …gas prices went thru the roof and the economy hasn’t tanked…the old republican line that raising minimum wage hurts the poor just ain’t so!

Posted by: bc on May 28, 2006 at 10:03 AM

In a free/capitalist society people are free to work for whomever they like at the highest possible wage. The same rights should be true for employers. If employers are not extended those same rights they will be less likely to compete in low wage industries. One only needs to look at the textile industry to understand the effect of minimum wage has on our economy.

Posted by: william shapiro on June 6, 2006 at 4:02 PM