Of late, there is much discussion about whether or not to substantially raise the minimum wage from its current level of $7.25 dollars an hour. It’s not, by any means, a simple question and there are valid arguments to both sides of this discussion. While not posing a solution, perhaps raising some questions would lend to approaching one which is truly workable.

After decades of sweatshops and what was tantamount to slave labor in, among other places, the mills and factories of the larger cities, the Roosevelt administration passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938 and, as part of that was a clause which required a minimum wage. It was clearly designed to bring some level os dignity to the labor force and push back against worker exploitation. Over time, the minimum wage rose to its current level of $7.25 per hour. The current administration now wants Congress to change the federal minimum wage and raise it to $10.00 per hour. In fact, there are now several jurisdictions which have done that, some even higher. Many, especially in the fast food market and the big box retail market are calling for a raise to $15.00 per hour as the minimum wage. While this might be nice from an income level for some, there are several questions which must be raised, centering around fairness, economic growth and policy.
According to several sources, including the BLS and the Census Bureau, a raise to a $10.00 minimum wage could move over 900,000 workers to above the poverty level. This would mean about $20,000 annually, which for an individual would be about $4,000 above the federal poverty level. With the federal poverty level being at $24,250 for a family of our, this helps but does not lift that family out of poverty unless there are at least two breadwinners making at least $12.500.00 each. Also, in order to have this effect, that individual would have to be working a full time forty hour week for a full fifty weeks.The question is, then, will such corporations as the big box retailers and the fast food industry be willing to one, hire far more people at the full time forty hour week and then pay them that minimum wage of $10.00 per hour -PLUS BENEFITS, one might add – ? The first, maybe, the second, decidedly not.  Retailers much prefer manipulating the part time labor market to hiring full time employees The underlying argument here is that, contrary to the assertions of some managers in the business, profit margins are the ruling agenda here and hiring more workers at a full time forty hour week would seriously diminish the part time ( less than a thirty-two hour week ) job market which is still a much needed market. While this is an argument for another place and time, the premise does indeed have some merit.

Then there is the calling for a minimum wage of $15.00 per hour and this discussion brings up several very different elements for consideration. In addition to those raised above, there is one key element which bears a close look and that is the element of fairness and worth. Do the job requirements demand a wage in the area of $ 30,000 annually and do the prerequisites of the job likewise require that level of compensation. Now before the far far left get going on what the term “worth” connotes, it is not about the worth of a person nor of an individual worker. This is about skills sets and abilities based on schooling and education even before one secures that job. Ask anyone who has searched for a job or better, a career position and they will tell you of the array of requirements – yes, requirements one must have before they will even be considered .
How does the big box retail market stack up to , say, a school teacher or a social worker or a special education teacher. There are education requirements, training requirements, experience level requirements and sometimes language requirements. Never the less,the average salary for a Child Protective Services case worker – requiring a bachelor’s degree ( in Arizona ) – comes in at about $30,100 for entry level and, with two years experience, about $36,600. Nationally, it’s a bit higher at $42,000. The salaries for school teachers vary almost as widely as case workers. According the the NEA, the starting range is from $24,600 in Montana to a high of $48,800 in New Jersey – again with a college degree required. In Arizona, the beginning average is about $31,800.Special Education teachers have an average starting salary in the range of $33,000 to $40,000, depending on the area. This requires a Bachelors degree plus state certification.Remember, many of those jobs in question in this discussion are tagged as “unskilled” and, at least in earlier times, were pretty much held by high school and college kids paying for their expenses with part time and summer employment. Now things have changed and many are forced to take these heretofore second income type positions as their primary source of income. The point here is that starting at $15.00 per hour would mean a wage not much lower than what “skilled “ and in some cases “professional” position entry level salary levels are offering . One needs to ask, is it – meaning the job – worth it. In some cases, after years on the job, perhaps. In most, especially when the turnover is so high, there is serious doubt.

And this brings us to that third area – that of policy.
In earlier years, there were numerous job training opportunities, taking different forms depending on where one was located. They ranged from the famous OIC in Philadelphia to the Job Corp camps around the country. Over time, these opportunities have dwindled. Most recently, the President signed in to law the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which repealed or replaced many previous federally funded job training programs and updated it to more current skills set training. However, like so many laudable efforts inside the beltway, the full funding for this has been stalled, and along with the now probably defunct Jobs Bill of 2011 which focused on jobs rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure, we are left with little or no support for this agenda. Sadly, there are continuing statements by corporate HR staffs that for one hundred positions, there are barely sixty qualified applicants.
The country has not learned the lessons of the past nor has it heard the discussions of labor advocates who while decrying the constant outsourcing of jobs to the Far East,are screaming for new job training opportunities, or at the very least, for corporations to embark on serious investment in the domestic labor force with training programs of their own.
While many, if not most employers provide both entry level training that is task specific ( mostly !) and ongoing OJT, there does not seem to be an overall concerted effort to foster serious skills training that reflects not only the contemporary job market but also the job markets of the not too distant future. As for career positions, including professional positions, well, let’s say that’s a discussion for another time. Suffice it to say there are numerous training opportunities but most are out of reach financially for many, especially if one is out of work or underemployed.
It is time indeed for a complete overhaul of the training schema of things and until commerce and government understand that a real partnership on this issue is the only way to succeed, there will be little or no progress.
In the meantime, one has to ask those questions posed by this discussion and wonder if raising the minimum wage to a level to which many retailers cannot or will not support will do more harm than good and will cause more in the way of strain on the economy.