Maximum strife on minimum pay
Tuesday, Rhode Island did it.
So did Arizona, Colorado, Vermont, Ohio, Oregon, Montana, Missouri and Florida.
Washington did it, too - raised its minimum wage to $9.19, the highest minimum wage of any state in the union.
On Jan. 1, all of these states raised their minimum wage, ostensibly to keep up with inflation. But the gains for our country's lowest-skilled workers come at a cost that might not be as palatable as you think.
Proponents of government-mandated hikes say the current federal minimum wage must increase to help more Americans climb out of poverty's cellar. They argue that because the federal level hasn't increased from $7.25 an hour since 2009 while costs have gone up, $15,080 annually for full-time work at that pay rate isn't enough to support a family.
We agree. But we also note that minimum-wage jobs aren't meant to provide pots of gold at the end of career rainbows. They're intended to meet very basic market needs for unskilled workers while providing a first step on a career path, or in many cases to help an individual or family supplement its income.
Nonprofit think-tanks on both sides of the issue fling dire warnings of fiscal doom and social responsibility at each other. Those who support raising the federal minimum wage to $9.80 say that would help pull 28 million workers out of poverty, and by giving these workers extra spending money, many of the nation's other economic woes would be eased.
On the other side of the divide, opponents of minimum wage mandates cite statistics that show every minimum-wage hike over the past two decades has been followed by a decrease in the number of minimum-wage jobs. They also point to university and Federal Reserve Board studies that show not only have net jobs been lost, but previous minimum-wage hikes haven't put a dent in poverty rates.
We believe statistics can be made to support either side of the dispute. Ours is a fundamental belief that the marketplace, not state or federal governments, should dictate wages based on the skills of workers and demand for those skills.
We applaud employers who offer more than minimum wage to their lowest tier of employees, and we encourage workers to do all they can to increase their marketability. Making oneself more valuable to employers is a better way to build a foundation for the future than relying on government to create a false floor.