[Vision2020] Minimum wage

Tue Aug 8 07:55:21 PDT 2006

Jerry,

 I agree with you 100% regarding the workforce  training. The school system needs to start kids one year earlier, let  them out one year later ,and use those two extra years to train youth a  job skill, good work ethic, how to search for and find a job, keep a  job, and advance in that field. 

 They also need to teach  youth how to do taxes, be a responsible member of the community, build  social skills, know first aid and establish healthy eating habits, and  all about how credit and debit works.

 In other words, schools  need to teach youth the things they are going to need to know about  living in modern society and doing well. So many things you learn in  school today seem pointless when you get out and never use it. You also  find yourself hurting in other areas when you are expected to know how  to do something in life but nobody ever taught you. 

  Thanks for your email. 

  Best,

  _DJA

Jerry Weitz <gweitz at moscow.com> wrote:      
  Raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 will not help in real  inflation-adjusted buying power--it is too small of an increase.   So let’s discuss the fundamentals.  As Virginia’s former  Democratic governor Mark Warner’s track record illustrates, skills  training in our high schools would help increase wages for Idaho’s  workforce and encourage more jobs.  With the push for community  colleges in the urban areas of Idaho, I believe that our local high  schools could become the rural equivalent of community college.   This would cost money and would require a willingness to change the  current high school structure.

 The state legislature’s  current focus on shifting school funding from property taxes to the  sales tax (the current maintenance and operations debate) misses the  point.  Instead of focusing on ways to shift funds, I would urge  consideration for increased funding for the creation/maintenance of  skills centers in local high schools.  Rather than seeking a  balanced taxation approach, the Idaho Education Association has  promoted a tax shift to the sales tax, which sends a confusing message.

  When one examines France, with a high minimum wage, a large  under-skilled/inexperienced segment of its youth, guaranteed employment  contracts, unbending unionization, top down regulations, etc., one  observes high unemployment, a high cost of living, and extreme social  unrest.

 What works: 1) create/maintain superior education for  both the college-bound and the non-college-bound, 2) invest in  infrastructure, 3) be friendly to business, 4) be environmentally wise,  and 5) do this without going deeply into debt, which requires  prioritization.  Ireland has followed the above policies with  exceptional success.  We should follow the lead of former governor  Warner and Virginia’s Republican legislature and make these policies  non-partisan.  From what I’ve learned, Larry Grant, our district’s  Democratic candidate for Congress, seems to understand this  non-partisan, middle of the road approach.

  Jerry

  At 11:11 AM 8/7/06, Shirley Ringo wrote:
  Visionaries:

  I cannot resist the urge to weigh in on the minimum wage issue.  I  proposed legislation during the most recent legislative session to  raise the minimum wage to $6.15.  It received very little support  from Republicans.  (Our District 6 Republicans did support it, and  Representative Trail will co-sponsor the effort with us again next  year.)

  <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =  "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> 

  We plan to try again next year, at an amount above $6.15.

  Without getting into the usual arguments, it’s unacceptable to have a  minimum wage that leaves those paid at that level in cruel  poverty.  Lawmakers have neglected maintenance on minimum wage  levels.  In 1968, the minimum wage meant something positive to  families.  In inflation-adjusted dollars, it has lost nearly 40%  of its value between 1968 and now.

 According  to polling, the vast majority of Americans believe the minimum wage  should be higher.  I believe eighteen states have a minimum wage  higher than the $5.15 federal level, which has not been raised since  1997.  Some of these states have used the initiative process to  get results, where state legislators would not act on it.  In some  of these states, there has been significant help from Republican  leaders.

 Many claims of negative consequences  do not seem to be true.  One of the claims is that jobs will be  lost.  In the majority of states that have raised the minimum  wage, there has in fact been an increase in jobs.  (We can’t claim  the wage increase caused more jobs, but the decrease some predicted  didn’t happen.)  An increase in employee productivity and less  absenteeism was reported where the pay level increased.

  On the inflation issue, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =  "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Florida reported  after raising their minimum wage a very minor increase in some  prices.  Since a relatively small percent of the employed receive  minimum wage, one might not expect a dramatic increase in prices.   (We can expect a “ripple effect” though, where employers will raise  wages to be more competitive.)  One year ago in Idaho, according  to the Department of Commerce and Labor, 32,000 Idahoans received a  wage between $5.15 and $6.15 per hour.  While Idaho State  Government employee pay is entirely too low, almost none of them  receive pay as low as $5.15 per hour.  I don’t consider it an  undisputed fact that there will be significant inflation, but we can  certainly study the issue in the states that have raised the minimum  wage. 

 Workers who receive minimum wage live  from paycheck to paycheck.  (If they can make it stretch.)   They have no discretionary money.  What are they to do when their  taxes go up?  Just more water in the gravy, I guess.  At the  minimum wage, it takes more than one full day to earn the money to buy  fifteen gallons of gasoline. 

 While I continue  to study the issue, I am convinced that some of the negative  consequences of raising the minimum wage are over-stated.  I am  also steadfast in my belief that it is unacceptable to value people and  families so little that we allow such a low level of compensation for  their efforts and to address their needs. 

  Shirley

  =======================================================
   List services made available by First Step Internet, 
   serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.    
                  http://www.fsr.net                        
             mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
  =======================================================  =======================================================
 List services made available by First Step Internet, 
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
               http://www.fsr.net                       
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================

 __________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20060808/00d18f8d/attachment-0001.htm 