Minimum wages
The politics of the minimum wage debate are fascinating to me.
There was an article in the USAToday the other day that compared minimum wage laws across states. The article is fairly typical.
I’ve alleged in class that democrats are typically associated with supporting minimum wages, and therefore trumpet the increased wages that come with them.
Republicans, however, claim that firms that hire these workers will be harmed and note there will be fewer people hired.
Which states have residents that are willing to (rightly or wrongly) transfer wealth from firms to low-skill workers, and in the process eliminate a few jobs?
Unfortunately, by following the link, you don’t get the graphic. So below, I’ve made a list of states that have a state minimum wage higher then national minimum wage.
Washington 7.63
Massachussetts7.50
Oregon 7.50
Connecticut 7.40
Hawaii 7.25
Vermont 7.25
Alaska 7.15*
New Jersey 7.15
Rhode Island 7.10
DC 7.00
Michigan 6.95
New York 6.95
California 6.75
Maine 6.75
Delaware 6.65
Illinois 6.50
Wisconsin 6.50
Florida 6.40*
Arkansas 6.25*
Pennsyvania 6.25
Maryland 6.15
Minnesota 6.15
North Carolina 6.15*
West Virginia 5.85*
Spot a trend? It turns out that every state that Kerry carried in the 2004 election is on this list with the exception of New Hampshire. There are only 5 states on the list that were carried by Bush – they are indicated with the asterisks.
–CT
September 19th, 2006 at 8:25 pm
Minimum wage should not be raised any higher than what it is right now. The arguement is that a higher wage will help the poverty stricken and low income workers because it will give them more money to support themselves or their families. If this is the case, why not raise the min wage to $35/hour? Won’t this help eliminate poverty? The answer is no. A higher min wage means higher prices for goods and services in the future. Companies will have to raise the price of goods in order to pay thier employees the higher wage. Also, a higher wage means that more skilled workers will be hired rather then unskilled workers which defeats the whole purpose about that a higher min wage would help low income(unskilled) families. The minimum wage should remain at $5.15.
September 20th, 2006 at 10:13 am
The federal minimum wage has remained at $5.15 an hour since September 1997. That means the minimum wage has remained the same for NINE years. That’s right nine years, which is way over due for a minimum wage increase. Also, there has only been one other time in which minimum wage has been unchanged for more than nine years, from January 1981 to April 1990, nine years and 3 months. Also, if Congress does not raise the minimum wage before December 1 2006, the federal minimum wage would make the history books of the longest streak without a raise. Furthermore, while the cost of living has increased about 26% since September 1997, would it not make sense to raise the minimum wage so that unskilled laborers can keep up with the cost of living. I think the concept is quite simple. A nine year drought is way too long for the minimum wage to be increased. Think about. The national inflation average every year is around 2%.So that means if goods are increasing in value at about a 2% average. Would it be fair to say that salaries of worker should increase in concert with inflation. To me the answer is yes. And nine years is way too long. Lastly,I think the mimimum wage policies should be revamped to allow for wage increase periodically to reflect the cost of living. Most private buisness practices this. Why should the national minimum wage law be any different?