EDITORIAL: Minimum wage increase helps students, promotes quality
With about half of all minimum-wage employees being younger than 25, college students account for a significant portion of our nation’s lowest-paid workers.
As students struggle with rising tuition and other college costs, more can be done to ensure students receive fair compensation for their work – and the first step is raising the minimum wage.
Since 1975, the U.S. Social Security Administration has provided automatic benefit increases, also known as cost-of-living adjustments.
These measurements, provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, ensure that purchasing power from social security and supplemental security income does not erode from inflation over time.
However, those same adjustments have not been applied to federal minimum wage standards in recent years.
The nation’s lowest paid employees are struggling to keep pace as their wages remain stagnant and the cost of living continues to increase. The financial burden put on students who are working while attending classes could be greatly reduced if these wages were federally adjusted.
Adjusted for inflation, based on the same information used by the SSA, minimum wage workers lost buying power over the last 50 years. The 1968 minimum wage of $1.60 per hour, when adjusted for inflation, would equal $10.75 today.
Today, federal minimum wage is $7.25.
In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama announced he would sign an executive order to raise all federal employees to a minimum hourly wage of $10.10.
The president also asked for a broader increase to all other minimum-wage employees, in stages, to $9 an hour by 2015.
According to Obama, this boost would supplement the paychecks of 16.5 million Americans – putting the money in the hands of college students like us, struggling to balance work to afford school.
In 2008, the federal minimum wage was raised 12 percent to $6.55. In 2009, it was increased nearly 13 percent to $7.25. Since then, unlike the rate of inflation, minimum wage has remained stagnant.
According to a 2011 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago study, a $1 increase for minimum wage workers would extend their household incomes by $2,800 per year.
By addressing the minimum wage issue, Obama can provide a catalyst to strengthen our economy.
Putting more money into the hands of those most likely to spend it would allow cash to travel more freely into the economy. When workers are paid more, they spend more. It’s a boost for both consumers and businesses.
Raising the federal minimum and offering a more realistic wage would help college students, in particular, be able to meet their financial obligations. It would ease the economic burdens of car payments, rent and grocery bills.
A higher minimum wage would promote worker protection, paying employees more and preventing companies from exploiting unrealistically cheap labor in the name of higher profit margins.
Theoretically, a realistic minimum wage could mean a higher pay scale across the board. Small businesses, to maintain pay structure and retain employees, will likely increase wages for all workers – not just those making the minimum.
Although some might argue that a higher minimum wage could lead to fewer overall employment opportunities to keep payroll down, we believe it will cause business to get fitter, rather than thinner.
When wages increase, businesses shape up. Business owners, forced to pay more for their employees, often find ways to increase productivity. With higher paid, more satisfied workers, employee turnover decreases and quality begins to take hold.
The benefits of a federally-mandated wage increase makes way for a better brand of employee. Ultimately, it forces employers to give workers – many of whom are college students – a fair chance at again earning a livable wage.
