A Fair Minimum Wage
Commentary by Phil Valentine  /  September 5, 2000

I've covered practically every topic under the sun on my radio show.  For most, I can return to them time and time again to battle my point from a different angle.  However, I must confess that the fight over the minimum wage has left me weary. 

I've grown tired of arguing that one person's minimum work might not be the same as another's.  In other words, sweeping up after hours at an office may be the perfect job for someone who likes to sleep late and work late and not worry with the hassles of co-workers.  Someone else who despises manual labor and dust may find the job repulsive.  It's all quite subjective. I've grown tired of arguing that raising the minimum wage puts added pressure on small business.  The owner of the burger joint may find it more expedient to cut back from four burger flippers to three instead of risking the loss of his customers by raising the price of the burger to cover the added expense.  Conversely, have you ever wondered why plumbers make so much money?  It's quite simple, really.  As the old saying goes, it's a dirty job and somebody has to do it.  The problem is, there aren't as many takers for the job as there are jobs to be done.  Since so few people will agree to do the job, the market dictates that the price for doing it is higher.  The same can be said for sports figures.  We bemoan the large salaries to each other while waiting in line for a four-dollar hot dog anxiously wanting to get it and get back to our sixty-five dollar seat.  It's the market, stupid.

As someone who works long hours, my free time is precious.  In turn, I tend to farm jobs out which I used to do myself.  For example; mowing the grass.  I used to handle that chore myself until it became apparent that a better use of my time and resources dictated that I hire someone else to do it.  That's at the current rate for getting the grass mowed.  As the minimum wage rises, it puts upward pressure on all other wages.  Thus, it may reach a point where it becomes more economically feasible for me to do it myself.  If that happens, who is hurt?  It certainly is an inconvenience for me but not the end of the world.  Chances are, I won't be the only one making the decision to bring the job 'in house.'  The company which cuts the grass will have fewer lawns to mow and will need fewer workers to mow them.  Someone will lose their job.  Why?  Because the minimum wage went up.

But I've grown tired of these logical arguments which have been met with emotional pleas for my compassion.  True, it would be far more compassionate to allow the market to dictate wages thus keeping as many people employed as possible.  But let's not confuse the self-described saviors of the poor with the facts.  They're on a roll.  I've resigned myself to just give in and do the right thing.  Let's make the minimum wage fair.  The minimum wage, when it was first enacted in 1938, was twenty-five cents per hour.  It's only fair that the minimum wage keep up with inflation, right?  Instead of $5.15 per hour, it must be somewhere near $25 per hour by now.  In the interest of fairness, I went on the web to an inflation calculator.  You know what the minimum wage should be now when you account for inflation?  Hold onto your union card.  $2.82.  That's right, two-dollars and eighty-two cents per hour.  OK, all of you advocates of a fair minimum wage.  What's fair is fair.