This is very similar to the last article in that it voices concerns of Tara Dennis, a low-wage worker, over the increase of the minimum wage. Her concerns are not, however, based on the fact that a wage hike drives prices up. She seems to think of it more as a too-little, too-late situation.
Wages for unskilled work positions have increased beyond the federal minimum wage in the past decade, but have not grown nearly as fast as the cost of living. A spokesman for the Economic Policy Institute chimes in that the policy being proposed by the Democratic Congress is actually very modest, considering the huge gap between cost of living and annual minimum wage income. The increase would only raise wages for 4% of the work force.
By 2009, when the Democrats would like the wage to be at $7.25, this wage would have the spending power that $6.75 has today. The wage increase is, according to the article, a largely symbolic political effort, rather than an actual way to get people out of poverty. The nation's highest minimum wage is in Washington--a full-time worker there will make $16,515 a year before taxes. However, the federal poverty level for a family of three is $16,600.
The woman I mentioned up at the start is quoted later on, saying that it ended up being cheaper for her to be unemployed, where she could receive food stamps, subsidized housing, and be available to watch her kids instead of putting them in daycare.
Another compelling point made is that about 28% of the homeless people in Louisville, KY's homeless shelters are employed. This is a tough statistic to nail down, however, because it is hard to gauge how many homeless people go to shelters and how many remain out on the streets, so I'm not sure how much stock to put in it.
25% of minimum wage earners are teenagers, while 50% are over the age of 25. This statistic helps prove my point that of the already-small population paid the minimum wage, a large chunk are not of voting age and another chunk (the remaining 25% between the ages of 19-25) is of generation Y, known for its political apathy. This is part of why wages have not budged and why it has been nearly impossible to make any federal headway with this public policy topic.
