The economic recovery roars along. This week, the federal government announced unemployment is higher now than it’s been for the past seven years. How is that a recovery?
Technically, if the economy is contracting, it is said to be in recession; if it’s expanding, it’s said to be in recovery. Our economy is expanding – barely – so we’re in recovery. Unfortunately, the annual rate of expansion – less than two percent – is so small, it does nothing to bring down unemployment. The people who have jobs are working longer hours, but few companies feel confident enough to add jobs. Here in Vermont, Ethan Allen furniture and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream recently announced layoffs.
Last year, Congress passed and the president signed a raft of tax cuts that were supposed to stimulate the economy, but tax cuts for the richest Americans were not the stimulus the economy needed. Those tax cuts gave the rich more dollars to invest; what our economy needs is customers, not investors. We need millions of people buying a pair of shoes or a haircut, not a couple hundred people each buying 10,000 shares of stock. Problem is, most of us just can’t afford that new pair of shoes right now and we’re taking our haircuts in the kitchen.
The working families of America are the ones who pay most of the taxes and the wages we take home at the end of the week buy less each year. The minimum wage in America is five dollars and fifteen cents an hour. That comes to $206 a week or $10,712 a year, before taxes. If you’re a single parent with two children, that minimum wage salary leaves you and your kids $4,300 below the poverty line.
Of course, some claim minimum wage is just something for teenagers working at the mall. Not so. Over two-thirds of people earning minimum wage are adults 20 or older. Sixty percent are women. The image of a single mom, couple kids, working hard, not making ends meet – it’s all too real and all too common.
Every year, those minimum wage earners – mostly women, mostly adult – lose a little more ground to inflation. Every year, that $206 a week buys less and less. The minimum wage has not increased since 1997. Given the state of our federal government, it’s not likely to go up any time soon. George Bush thinks states should have the right to “opt out” of the federal minimum wage and pay workers even less. How do you think that news will go over in North Carolina’s meatpacking plants?
The minimum wage was established at 25 cents an hour in 1938. In 64 years, it’s gone up four dollars and ninety cents. By comparison, the base congressional salary is $150,000 a year. That’s before one counts the per diems, perks and benefits. The average representative or senator sucks over $200,000 from the treasury each year.
Since Congress last increased the minimum wage, it has raised its own salaries five times, for a total of $16,400. While minimum-wage working mothers lose ground every year, Congress manages to keep its wages well ahead of the rate of inflation.
Fortunately, some Americans have more sense than is reflected in our national assembly. Communities across the country are passing “living wage” laws, which require companies contracting with the municipality to pay better-than-minimum wages. The City of New Orleans recently passed a living wage that applies to all private employers.
Because living wage earners can buy shoes and haircuts – and eventually cars and houses – guess what? Studies show the living wage is a boon to the economy that requires it. The rising tide lifts all boats.
Working for a Living
The economic recovery roars along. This week, the federal government announced unemployment is higher now than it’s been for the past seven years. How is that a recovery?
Technically, if the economy is contracting, it is said to be in recession; if it’s expanding, it’s said to be in recovery. Our economy is expanding – barely – so we’re in recovery. Unfortunately, the annual rate of expansion – less than two percent – is so small, it does nothing to bring down unemployment. The people who have jobs are working longer hours, but few companies feel confident enough to add jobs. Here in Vermont, Ethan Allen furniture and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream recently announced layoffs.
Last year, Congress passed and the president signed a raft of tax cuts that were supposed to stimulate the economy, but tax cuts for the richest Americans were not the stimulus the economy needed. Those tax cuts gave the rich more dollars to invest; what our economy needs is customers, not investors. We need millions of people buying a pair of shoes or a haircut, not a couple hundred people each buying 10,000 shares of stock. Problem is, most of us just can’t afford that new pair of shoes right now and we’re taking our haircuts in the kitchen.
The working families of America are the ones who pay most of the taxes and the wages we take home at the end of the week buy less each year. The minimum wage in America is five dollars and fifteen cents an hour. That comes to $206 a week or $10,712 a year, before taxes. If you’re a single parent with two children, that minimum wage salary leaves you and your kids $4,300 below the poverty line.
Of course, some claim minimum wage is just something for teenagers working at the mall. Not so. Over two-thirds of people earning minimum wage are adults 20 or older. Sixty percent are women. The image of a single mom, couple kids, working hard, not making ends meet – it’s all too real and all too common.
Every year, those minimum wage earners – mostly women, mostly adult – lose a little more ground to inflation. Every year, that $206 a week buys less and less. The minimum wage has not increased since 1997. Given the state of our federal government, it’s not likely to go up any time soon. George Bush thinks states should have the right to “opt out” of the federal minimum wage and pay workers even less. How do you think that news will go over in North Carolina’s meatpacking plants?
The minimum wage was established at 25 cents an hour in 1938. In 64 years, it’s gone up four dollars and ninety cents. By comparison, the base congressional salary is $150,000 a year. That’s before one counts the per diems, perks and benefits. The average representative or senator sucks over $200,000 from the treasury each year.
Since Congress last increased the minimum wage, it has raised its own salaries five times, for a total of $16,400. While minimum-wage working mothers lose ground every year, Congress manages to keep its wages well ahead of the rate of inflation.
Fortunately, some Americans have more sense than is reflected in our national assembly. Communities across the country are passing “living wage” laws, which require companies contracting with the municipality to pay better-than-minimum wages. The City of New Orleans recently passed a living wage that applies to all private employers.
Because living wage earners can buy shoes and haircuts – and eventually cars and houses – guess what? Studies show the living wage is a boon to the economy that requires it. The rising tide lifts all boats.
Someone call the White House.