I used to think that the idea of increasing the minimum wage to $14 per hour was outrageous. How could a business afford such a drastic increase? I thought that this would devastate the small business owner, and it possibly could. But my thoughts about the minimum wage changed when I went to early voting today.
As we all lined up to wait for our turns in the voting booths, I passed a bulletin board with various documents. One document stood out to me: the minimum wage posting. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25, and it has been at that rate since 2009. The federal minimum wage has NOT changed in a decade!
When the federal minimum wage was first introduced in 1938, it was a quarter an hour. When I started working as a teenager, the minimum wage was $3.35 per hour. For the most part, the federal minimum wage has consistently increased throughout the years, except for a few times in my years working. There was not an increase from 1981-1990, 1997-2007, and 2009-present. In 2007, George W. Bush increased the minimum wage from $5.15 to $5.85, and then in 2008, it was increased to $6.55. Again, in 2009 under the Obama administration, the minimum wage increased again to $7.25. So in 10 years, it has not increased. I don't know about you, but I have seen the cost of living rapidly increase from then to now. In fact, I've seen the rent in my city double in some areas in just as few as 7 years.
Now some states have been more proactive in establishing and increasing their state minimum wages. San Francisco has raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Half of all minimum wage employees are 25-years-old or younger. 62% of all minimum wage workers are women. 47% of minimum wage earners are in the South. Don't get me started on tipped wage employees, in which many states only pay $2.13 per hour...in fact, over a third of the U.S., including Tennessee. And most of that money ends up going back to the government in taxes! If you are a tipped worker, you are better off living in California, Oregon, or Washington where your hourly wage ranges from $11-12 an hour.
Many cities like Nashville are huge in the hospitality industry: servers, bartenders, etc. And if you get patrons that don't understand the tipping standard, the employee suffers. Tips are their livelihood!
Let's do some math. Let's say "Joe Blow" is lucky and gets $11 an hour. He works 40 hours so he makes $440 before taxes. So in a month, he gets less than $2000 a month before taxes. If he lives in Nashville, he pays a grand a month on rent at least, if he doesn't have a roommate. Half of his income is going to rent! How can anyone pay bills, let alone have any savings and get ahead?!
When I was still in college and had just had my baby, I was lucky enough to find an entry-level job in my field. It paid a whopping $6 per hour. Going from retail jobs that barely paid over minimum wage, I thought I was doing great. (Minimum wage at that time was $4.25 an hour.) Even then, my rent was $400 a month for a 2-bedroom outside of Nashville. I'd love to have $400 a month rent today, but it would be an outhouse in the middle of nowhere.
So 25 years later, and the rent has more than doubled, while the minimum wage has not. And that is in a college town and not a bigger city like Nashville where the rent has doubled in less than ten years. How is a single person able to make it let alone a family? Had I not had the $6 an hour job, I would definitely not have been able to support myself or child under minimum wage.
Now let's talk groceries. They have doubled, too. I spend twice as much now on groceries as I did 25 years ago, and I'm only shopping for myself! Gas was $1.11 a gallon, a stamp was 29 cents, a dozen eggs was 87 cents, and a gallon of milk was $2.88. Gas has more than doubled. You are spending more than twice what you did on the essentials, but your paycheck may not have doubled.
The idea of the minimum wage being only $7.25 in today's economy is laughable. The cost of living is skyrocketing, and the minimum wage isn't even coming close.
As we all lined up to wait for our turns in the voting booths, I passed a bulletin board with various documents. One document stood out to me: the minimum wage posting. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25, and it has been at that rate since 2009. The federal minimum wage has NOT changed in a decade!
When the federal minimum wage was first introduced in 1938, it was a quarter an hour. When I started working as a teenager, the minimum wage was $3.35 per hour. For the most part, the federal minimum wage has consistently increased throughout the years, except for a few times in my years working. There was not an increase from 1981-1990, 1997-2007, and 2009-present. In 2007, George W. Bush increased the minimum wage from $5.15 to $5.85, and then in 2008, it was increased to $6.55. Again, in 2009 under the Obama administration, the minimum wage increased again to $7.25. So in 10 years, it has not increased. I don't know about you, but I have seen the cost of living rapidly increase from then to now. In fact, I've seen the rent in my city double in some areas in just as few as 7 years.
Now some states have been more proactive in establishing and increasing their state minimum wages. San Francisco has raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Half of all minimum wage employees are 25-years-old or younger. 62% of all minimum wage workers are women. 47% of minimum wage earners are in the South. Don't get me started on tipped wage employees, in which many states only pay $2.13 per hour...in fact, over a third of the U.S., including Tennessee. And most of that money ends up going back to the government in taxes! If you are a tipped worker, you are better off living in California, Oregon, or Washington where your hourly wage ranges from $11-12 an hour.
Many cities like Nashville are huge in the hospitality industry: servers, bartenders, etc. And if you get patrons that don't understand the tipping standard, the employee suffers. Tips are their livelihood!
Let's do some math. Let's say "Joe Blow" is lucky and gets $11 an hour. He works 40 hours so he makes $440 before taxes. So in a month, he gets less than $2000 a month before taxes. If he lives in Nashville, he pays a grand a month on rent at least, if he doesn't have a roommate. Half of his income is going to rent! How can anyone pay bills, let alone have any savings and get ahead?!
When I was still in college and had just had my baby, I was lucky enough to find an entry-level job in my field. It paid a whopping $6 per hour. Going from retail jobs that barely paid over minimum wage, I thought I was doing great. (Minimum wage at that time was $4.25 an hour.) Even then, my rent was $400 a month for a 2-bedroom outside of Nashville. I'd love to have $400 a month rent today, but it would be an outhouse in the middle of nowhere.
So 25 years later, and the rent has more than doubled, while the minimum wage has not. And that is in a college town and not a bigger city like Nashville where the rent has doubled in less than ten years. How is a single person able to make it let alone a family? Had I not had the $6 an hour job, I would definitely not have been able to support myself or child under minimum wage.
Now let's talk groceries. They have doubled, too. I spend twice as much now on groceries as I did 25 years ago, and I'm only shopping for myself! Gas was $1.11 a gallon, a stamp was 29 cents, a dozen eggs was 87 cents, and a gallon of milk was $2.88. Gas has more than doubled. You are spending more than twice what you did on the essentials, but your paycheck may not have doubled.
The idea of the minimum wage being only $7.25 in today's economy is laughable. The cost of living is skyrocketing, and the minimum wage isn't even coming close.
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