Abraham Paulos reports
The minimum wage and I know each other well.
In my 20-plus years, I have worked a number of $5.15-per-hour jobs. Of all the people I worked with at these jobs, no one stands out in my mind as much as Shantice — a 35-year-old, single, African-American woman with three growing boys who gave her back pains. Our work relationship was irregular. I was a 17-year-old high school dropout who had made his way up the bagel chain of command to become the sandwich leader. This meant I was Shantice's supervisor and had received a 25-cent raise. One of the perks of my position was that I wouldn't have to sweep, mop or restock the bathrooms. However, when Shantice was working, my authority vanished and I would begrudgingly do those duties. It was understood that her pay wasn't worth the pain.
I wrote this article with her in mind.
Critics argue that a higher minimum wage would reduce the number of jobs and curb economic growth by increasing labor costs, leading to outsourcing. However, in the book Myth and Measurement: The New Economics of the Minimum Wage, David Card and Alan Krueger argue the negative effects of minimum-wage laws on employment will be non-existent or minimal at most. The bulk of recent statistical research consistently shows that job loss due to a moderate minimum wage increase is negligible.
Increasing the minimum wage would benefit the working poor and enable them to better support themselves. Raising the minimum wage can also stimulate economic growth by increasing their purchasing power. In his piece, Higher Minimum Wage Can Lift Minorities, William Rodgers identifies what a small increase would provide to families: 10 months of groceries, eight months of rent, an entire year of community college, and almost an entire year of healthcare expenses. Another study by Rodgers, Bruce Klein (Institute for Economic Well-Being) and Hanley Chiang (Harvard University), shows how the increase in the minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15 per hour in 1996 and 1997 improved the ability of households to achieve food security and reduce hunger.
Economic development and poverty reduction is advanced by better working conditions and education. Reducing low-paid work, which may be unfair and exploitative, stimulates better working conditions that reduce poverty. Raising the minimum wage encourages those who would normally take low-wage jobs to stay in or return to school and thus accumulate human capital.
A recent analysis (Center for American Progress) of a proposal to increase the federal minimum wage in steps to $7.00 per hour by 2006 by nine leading labor economists concluded that 76 percent of the women who would benefit directly from the increase are over the age of 20. Minority women would definitely benefit from the increase: 33 percent of female beneficiaries would be African-American or Hispanic.
There was only one person I had in mind when I wrote the previous line: Shantice. There are many more like her working, hardly living, and waiting for this debate to subside. They are the reasons why it is natural for me to believe that increasing the minimum wage assists the working poor. Any angle of the argument alludes to the conclusion that the benefits of a higher minimum wage outweigh the costs. A crucial benefit for Shantice, a person I would offer any relief in her struggle to survive whether it is sweeping, mopping (begrudgingly), or advocating a necessary increase in minimum wage.
