If all employers paid a living wage voluntarily, then a minimum wage requirement would not be necessary. What would a business pay their employees if a minimum wage requirement did not exist? $5.00/hour? $7.00/hour $10.00/hour? Probably not $10.00/hour so, unfortunately, many businesses must be made to “step up to the plate.”
No business is going out of business because of a $3.00/hour raise. If they do, then something else is wrong with that company. A decent wage increases productivity and lowers turnover, thereby decreasing training costs of new hires.
Raising the minimum wage from the current $7.25/hour to $10.10/ hour, the figure most often discussed, would put about $4,000 extra spendable dollars into the minimum wage worker’s income annually assuming they worked full time. This would help them make some necessary purchases such as new tires for their car or replacing a worn out stove or refrigerator. That by itself would improve the economy, not to mention their lives.
If you support raising the minimum wage, let you US senators know how you feel or vote for someone who does support increasing the minimum wage.
Martha Shepard, Democratic State Executive Committeewoman 25th Senatorial District