Should We Raise the Minimum Wage?

September 4, 2017

You may not be old enough to get a job, but you probably know someone who makes the federal minimum wage—in most cases, that’s $7.25 an hour. (The minimum wage is the lowest hourly rate a company can legally pay its workers.) Local governments can set higher rates, and 29 states and Washington, D.C., have done so—as have several cities and counties.

Earlier this year, a number of Democrats in the Senate introduced a bill to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024. They say an increase in pay would help the millions of low-wage workers who are struggling to make ends meet. Plus, supporters say, the federal minimum wage hasn’t been raised since 2009, while basic expenses like food, rent, and public transportation have gone up considerably in that time.

But many Republicans, including President Donald Trump, oppose an increase. They say raising the federal minimum wage would lead to job losses and hurt the economy. To afford higher wages, critics say, businesses would have to raise prices, hire fewer employees, or reduce the number of hours each person works.

Should we raise the minimum wage? Two U.S. senators face off.

YES

In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, a basic principle should be that if you work 40 hours or more a week, you don’t live in poverty. Sadly, that’s not the case today.

While large corporations make record-breaking profits and top CEOs earn about 335 times more per hour than the average worker, millions of Americans are trying to survive on totally inadequate wages.

The current $7.25-an-hour federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. It must be raised to a “living wage.” That’s why I’ve introduced legislation to raise it to $15 an hour by 2024 and then automatically adjust it to keep up with the rising cost of living.

A job must
lift workers out of poverty,
not keep them in it.

Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

More than 43 million Americans are currently living in poverty. Health care costs, housing costs, college costs, and child care costs are all going up. Wages are not. That’s got to change.

By gradually raising pay for tens of millions of workers, we can improve living standards, lift millions of Americans out of poverty, and provide a much-needed boost to our economy. Our bill will raise the wages of 41 million people, giving full-time workers an extra $3,500 a year.

When low-wage workers have more money in their pockets, they spend that money in grocery stores, restaurants, and other businesses. This spending gives companies a reason to expand and hire more workers. This is a win-win-win situation for our economy. Poverty is reduced. New jobs are created. And we begin to reduce the enormous gap between the richest Americans and everyone else.

The bottom line isn’t complicated: A job must lift workers out of poverty, not keep them in it. To do that, we must raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

—Senator Bernie Sanders
Independent of Vermont

NO

When I was 15, I got my first job as a dishwasher in a Walgreen’s grill. The job paid the restaurant minimum wage at the time of $1.45 an hour.

That job taught me a lot: the importance of having a good attitude, working hard, showing up on time, getting along with co-workers, and positively contributing to an organization. It also taught me that all work has value and helped motivate me to obtain enough education to pursue positions I preferred.

Within my first year of working that minimum wage job, I was promoted three times. That job, and every job thereafter, helped me gain better opportunities with better pay and benefits.

My experience isn’t unique. In fact, it’s generally how the world works. And that’s why I don’t think it’s a good idea to mandate a dramatically higher federal minimum wage.

Raising the minimum wage
will lead to fewer jobs.

Julia Schmalz/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Consider the economics: Would consumers purchase more of the exact same sweater if it cost $72.50 or $150? The answer is obvious. When employers consider hiring people, they are making a decision to “buy” labor. Will employers purchase more labor if it’s priced at $7.25 per hour or $15 per hour? Again, the answer is obvious.

That’s why some studies project that a minimum wage increase to $15 per hour would cost the economy 6 million jobs. Workers who lose their jobs as a result will instead earn $0 per hour.

It’s important to keep the minimum wage in perspective. In 2015, only 1.6 percent of American workers earned the minimum wage. Forty-five percent of them were under the age of 25. Let’s not destroy opportunities and deprive any individual of obtaining an entry-level position that represents the first rung on the personal ladder to success.

—Senator Ron Johnson
Republican of Wisconsin