[Vision2020] Minimum wage

[Ted Moffett]

Weitz wrote:

"Raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 will not help in real
inflation adjusted buying power..."

This statement is not quite correct.  It also seems to not face the
realities of those living at the bottom of the wage scale, where a dollar an
hour increase is a huge increase in buying power for the basics of life:
food, gasoline, rent.  Someone at this moment in time who receives this wage
increase can better afford the recent increases in gasoline costs, for
example, which add to inflation.  This would help to address buying power in
real terms right now.

Also, you pick the example of France to prove your points, while not
mentioning the county next door, with the highest minimum wage in the nation
at $7.63 an hour, now tagged by law to increase with the rate of inflation.
If a high minimum wage is so counter production to economic success,
Pullman, and Washington State, should be economically worse off than Moscow
and Idaho.

Which county and state has the higher average household income by a large
margin?  Washington State does have a higher unemployment rate than Idaho,
but this may be due to economic and social factors not caused by the minimum
wage.  France has some indicators of social well being that are better than
the USA.  It is easy to slant how an economic analysis views the well being
of a population by cherry picking what is or not important to suit a bias.

I know the issue is immensely complex, but to just dismiss the idea of the
possible value of raising the minimum wage by a comparison with France seems
like an obvious attempt to cherry pick examples to prove your points.

Perusing this analysis from 1991 of social well being and other economic
indicators, assuming accuracy, reveals that some other nations with a higher
tax rate and more government regulation do exceed the USA in the overall
well being of their populations.  Economic conservatives no doubt will
dismiss this analysis:

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/8Comparison.htm

Ted Moffett

On 8/7/06, 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
>
>
>
>
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