We
Can't Build A Strong Economy on a Weak Base
By Camille Moran, American Forum
The last time the minimum wage went
up was in 2009, and, as the owner of a Christmas tree farm and other
businesses, I think it's time for another raise.
Today's
$7.25 an hour minimum wage befits Scrooge -- before he saw the error of his
ways. It amounts to just $15,080 a year for full-time workers.
Workers
shouldn't have to depend on food stamps or food banks to put Christmas Dinner
on their tables.
McDonald's
made waves this year by recommending a sample monthly budget to its employees
-- many of them earning at or near minimum wage -- that assumed they needed a
second job to make ends meet. Most McDonald's employees, like most minimum-wage
workers, are adults. The budget had them working at McDonald's for $1,105 a
month after taxes, and then a second job for $955 -- for a total of $24,720
yearly after taxes. McDonald's CEO Don Thompson, meanwhile, made $13.8 million
in 2012. That's $37,808 a day, every day of the year.
Most
Americans agree that if you work full time you should not be living in poverty.
Today's miserly minimum wage doesn't just impoverish workers, it hurts our
economy.
If
I don't pay my employees a decent wage, they won't have money to spend at other
businesses. And if other businesses don't pay their workers a decent wage, they
can't afford to buy my trees, and I can't afford to hire more employees. That's
a negative cycle, instead of a positive one.
At
4 Seasons Christmas Tree Farm, our lowest paid employees earn at least $10 an
hour and we provide a better product at competitive prices with big box stores.
Raising the minimum wage makes good business sense.
A
recent national poll shows that 67 percent of small-business owners support
increasing the minimum wage and adjusting it yearly to keep pace with the cost
of living. The small-business owners were predominately Republican in the poll
commissioned by Small Business Majority.
Sixty-five
percent of small-business owners in the poll agreed that "Increasing the
minimum wage will help the economy, because the people with the lowest incomes
are the most likely to spend any pay increases buying necessities they could
not afford before, which will boost sales at businesses. This will increase the
customer demand that businesses need to retain or hire more employees."
That's
right. Increasing the minimum wage will boost the sales that drive employment.
And with increased wages, businesses also see lower costly employee turnover,
increased productivity and better customer service.
No
wonder the most rigorous studies of the impact of actual minimum wage increases
show they don't cause job loss, reports Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. For
example, the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment compared all
neighboring counties (we call them parishes) located on different sides of a
state border with different minimum-wage levels between 1990 and 2006 and found
no adverse employment effects from higher minimum wages.
There's
a proposal in Congress to raise the minimum wage by 95 cents a year for three
years to $10.10 an hour, and then adjust it annually to keep up with the cost
of living.
If
the minimum wage had kept up with the cost of living since 1968, it would
already be over $10. In case you're wondering, the unemployment rate was 3.6
percent in 1968 and 3.5 percent in 1969.
When
families come to our farm looking for a Christmas tree, they seek out trees
that have a strong, full base and are healthy from top to bottom.
Our
minimum wage is the base of our economy. If it's weak, our economy will not be
healthy.
At
the end of "A Christmas Carol," Scrooge doesn't just give Tiny Tim's
family a turkey. He gives his father a raise.
Moran is owner and CEO of Caramor Industries,
which includes 4 Seasons Christmas Tree Farm, in Natchitoches Parish, La. She
is a member of Business
for a Fair Minimum Wage.