Public Wants Minimum Wage Raised (But By How Much?)

The charts above show the federal poverty levels for families with from one to eight members, and the wages that would be paid to a worker at various levels of a minimum wage. A casual glance of those charts will show the inadequacy of the current minimum wage ($7.25 an hour). The current minimum wage would keep a single worker above the poverty line, but that is all. A family of two or more would still be living in poverty if paid the minimum wage.

The Republicans would like for you to believe that the only people working for a minimum wage are teenagers (who live with their parents and are only working for some spending money). That is an outrageous lie. The huge majority of those currently working for minimum wage are adults, and many of them are supporting a family (including many single women with children who cannot have a second family income).

Because they cannot support their families at a decent level (since they are living below the poverty level), many of these families are also getting some government benefits (such as food stamps or housing assistance). Republicans want to cut those benefits, even though these people are working hard and doing their best for their families -- and those same Republicans want to keep the minimum wage at the current level (or eliminate it completely).

I, along with many Democrats and progressives, would also like to see these families removed from government assistance roles -- but without hurting them or their children. The way to remove them from those roles is not in cutting benefits, but in raising the minimum wage to a level that would let these hard-working people support their families in a decent manner -- a level that would raise them out of poverty.

I think most Americans are in favor of raising the minimum wage. Most polls have shown that. The question is how much it should be raised. President Obama proposed raising the minimum wage to $9.00 an hour. That would be $18,720 a year. It would lift a family of two out of poverty, but that's all. Most families living on minimum wage would still be living in poverty.

Congressional Democrats have proposed raising it to $10.10 an hour (or $21,008 a year). That would lift families of three or less out of poverty. I think that's still not good enough. It would leave too many hard-working people and their families (family of four or more) still in poverty.

The figure being discussed the most these days is $15.00 an hour. That is less than the minimum wage would be if it had been allowed to rise with inflation, but it is a reasonable figure. And it would raise most families (up to families of five, and nearly six) living on a minimum wage income out of poverty (and take them off government assistance role, saving taxpayers millions of dollars). It is not an unreasonable figure, and in fact, some cities around the country have already raised their minimum wage to that level (and it has not hurt business or caused lay-offs).

The problem is that Republican officials will never agree to that. That's is an important reason why the 2016 election is so important. They must be denied the White House -- and enough of them must be kicked out of Congress to allow a decent minimum wage to be passed. And regardless of what the Republicans say, a decent minimum wage would benefit all Americans. It would increase business sales and profits (as minimum wage workers spent their increased wages), it would increase employment as businesses hired to meet the new demand for their goods/services, and it would significantly decrease the amount of tax money needed to help the poor.

The YouGov Poll recently surveyed Americans on their thoughts about raising the minimum wage. They queried 1,000 randomly chosen adults between July 23rd and 27th, with a margin of error of 3.9 points. The charts below show their acceptance of the two most discussed level to raise the minimum wage ($10.10 hr. and $15.00 hr.). A majority would support $10.10 an hour, and a plurality would support $15.00 an hour.