Source:Slate Magazine– a pro-minimum wage rally.

Source:The New Democrat

“Nine or ten dollars an hour? Twelve? Or all the way to $15?

For much of the country, significant minimum wage hikes are coming—at least in the areas where they haven’t happened already. Public debate on the issue in many states and cities has been reduced to a disagreement between the forces that want to keep increases to a small amount per hour and folks like Chicago’s “Fight for 15” group and new Seattle Mayor Ed Murray who propose a $15 per hour target.

People getting paid more for their work is a heartwarming notion, so it can feel pretty easy to get behind a $15 minimum wage on an emotional level. In terms of a more mathematical analysis, one sees macroeconomic cases made both for and against a high minimum wage: either that putting more money in the pockets of working people will strengthen spending and the economy or that increasing labor costs to business will result in higher unemployment.”

From Slate Magazine

There are several reasons why I’m in favor of raising the Federal minimum wage.  Minimum wage workers are under paid for the work that they do and the services that they perform for their employers. Cashier handle most, if not all, of the money that their employer receives. They provide a necessary and essential service to their company.  The company can’t stay in business without it.

Underpaying service workers reduces their ability to live a decent life.  Taxpayers then have to assist these workers in meeting their costs of living.  There is also a cost to the economy in decreased economic growth because of the purchasing power that these workers don’t have.  Henry Ford realized this at the beginning of the 20th century.

Do I believe everyone is entitled to earn at least a middle class living simply for being alive?  Of course not, I’m not a Socialist but I do believe that everyone is entitled to be paid the money that their work and services bring to the table.  $7.25 an hour for workers who are critical to the success of a business  is underpayment.  The cost of that underpayment is passed to taxpayers as public assistance and lost  economic growth.