So a person may decide to actually put some effort into something and then you realize, damn, that’s a lot of effort.
So I tried doing some research to talk specifically about why arbitrarily picking a number such as $15/hour is not the best way to decide what should be the minimum wage.
The first reason why is the obvious, the economy around the country is different. What it costs to live in New York, New York is different from Des Moines, Iowa. And you factor in, what it costs to run a business is different, what products costs to manufacture something is different and you can create your own list.
The second factor and this is also affected by the above paragraph is there a difference between minimum wage and a living wage. Should the minimum wage be the bottom end of a living wage? Or should it be the base pay for part time work, summer work, teenage work, or maybe a bit higher like starter salary in bottom rung career work? And yes, I know, pretty crass to say bottom rung career work. WTH is that?
So I started trying to research the first question, what is the cost of living and income difference between New York and Des Moines and a host of other cities around the country. (nothing like another chart, sheesh). You can get some government statistics and eventually I am going to follow through and put together a chart. I think this chart will be really helpful, however for right now I just wanted to touch on the issues in actually doing the research and there will be more follow up. I think this is a monstrously needed discussion since this is a very important topic. And there are so many angles this can be reviewed. And you can add complexity upon complexity to this topic by diving deeper and deeper into the numbers. Somewhere you have to find the right balance to make the argument effective though.
I know for a fact there will not be a magic number at the end of all this and I bet by now you have realized this, but the goal is for all of us to understand what might we be looking to accomplish in creating a productive minimum wage.
So for now here are some questions that need to be addressed to dig around enough to find the right effective arguments.
What are the parameters to determine cost of living? And what does it mean poverty line?
What is a living wage? How do you determine a budget to determine if you have a living wage?
Should we bother with comparing minimum wage versus living wage? Or minimum wage and the “poverty line”?
Does income inequality play an affect? Does it matter?
Should a minimum wage allow for economic growth? Or is it just to get by? And what does it mean just to get by?
How do you write a minimum wage law that allows for a more flexible yet effective minimum wage? And why am I talking about laws right now?
And throw in peripheral factors, such as Social Security, taxes, that go a bit beyond the concept of a budget to determine a living wage.
How much should the government be involved? And yes this brings up the conservative versus liberal argument. Is government here to protect us on every front or is the market a better determinant of what wages should be?
I probably will not get into all these questions, but as you can see it will be difficult to successfully create a minimum wage for all. So yes the simplistic answer is to come with one number fits all package, but you do not get the best number. How much research or discussion do we need to find a responsible answer without driving ourselves crazy? I think we need a bit more than a number, but I also realize there will be some compromise in finding an answer. Can’t leave it to politicians, they will always take the loudest and easiest answer.
Cheers
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