------------------
Andy Boyd is a local Bernie supporter and leftist activist who even now still doesn't understand economics. Mr. Boyd wants the minimum wage in Montana to be $15/hr. Why $15? He never tells us. His entire presentation is an emotional appeal.
-------------------
We need to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour in Montana, linked to cost-of-living increases so that the lowest-paid among us are unable to earn a living wage. More than half of all workers in Montana make less than $15/hr, and a $15/hr minimum wage in Montana would raise yearly wages to $31,200 annually. This would lift tens of thousands of Montanans out of poverty. (No, it wouldn't. The poverty level is always the lowest category of wage earners. Statistically, there are always the lowest category.)
Furthermore, one in four working Montana women would get a raise if the minimum is lifted to $15.
The current minimum wage in Montana is simply not enough. We have much work to do to ensure a fair and just society — and raising the minimum wage in Montana to make it a living wage is part of it. (Is it "fair and just" to force a small business owner to pay his employees from his limited income? Is it "fair and just" to raise the pay of the 16 year old to mop floors, while the legal secretary in the next room remains at $16? Is it "fair and just" to force small businesses to adjust to increased labor expense by laying off workers, reducing hiring, or deploying more automation?
If someone earning the minimum wage in Montana is fortunate enough to be able to work full-time hours (and many are not), she or he would earn only $18,200/ year, which is 84% of the federal poverty line for a family of two. The percentage of people in households supported by a low-wage worker living in or near poverty in Montana is 29.1%. It’s crystal clear that at the current minimum wage, Montana workers struggle paycheck-to-paycheck. (Mr. Boyd doesn't cite a source, but his numbers are at odds with the State of Montana:
An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Montana workers, or 2 percent of the workforce, received hourly wages less than $8.75 per hour in 2020 and are likely to receive higher wages due to the 2021 minimum wage increase.Very few workers are at minimum wage in Montana. In addition, the poverty rate in Montana is 12.6%, not 29.1%.
Further, 40% of minimum wage workers are under age 30, with the highest percentage between 16 and 19 years old, i.e., teenagers working their very first job:
We do not know how many of these people are single or married. We do not know how many are supporting other people. We do not know how many are working in a single income family. Mr. Boyd is trying to make the problem as bad as possible to gin up sympathy and enact his preferred governmental solutions.
Lastly, we would doubt there are any minimum wage earners in Gallatin county. Employers are offering $12, $14, $16 and not getting any applicants.
So we would ask Mr. Boyd, what government dictate created this situation? What mandate did government enact that made it so that employers are forced to offer higher wages?)
We need to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour in Montana, linked to cost-of-living increases so that the lowest-paid among us are unable to earn a living wage. More than half of all workers in Montana make less than $15/hr, and a $15/hr minimum wage in Montana would raise yearly wages to $31,200 annually. This would lift tens of thousands of Montanans out of poverty. (No, it wouldn't. The poverty level is always the lowest category of wage earners. Statistically, there are always the lowest category.)
Furthermore, one in four working Montana women would get a raise if the minimum is lifted to $15.
The current minimum wage in Montana is simply not enough. We have much work to do to ensure a fair and just society — and raising the minimum wage in Montana to make it a living wage is part of it. (Is it "fair and just" to force a small business owner to pay his employees from his limited income? Is it "fair and just" to raise the pay of the 16 year old to mop floors, while the legal secretary in the next room remains at $16? Is it "fair and just" to force small businesses to adjust to increased labor expense by laying off workers, reducing hiring, or deploying more automation?
This is the problem with the socialist utopia. Everything happens in a vacuum, there are no ripple effects. So government just comes in and dictates a change and assumes that no other factor will change as a result. But someone always pays, and eventually the socialist has to face reality when he runs out of other peoples' money.)
It is time to do right by working Montanans and raise the minimum wage incrementally to $15/hr. Whether it’s passed through Congress or done here in Montana, working Montanans need a raise. Too many working people in Montana are not paid enough to afford the basics, and Montana families can’t wait. (But apparently they can wait "incrementally...")
It is time to do right by working Montanans and raise the minimum wage incrementally to $15/hr. Whether it’s passed through Congress or done here in Montana, working Montanans need a raise. Too many working people in Montana are not paid enough to afford the basics, and Montana families can’t wait. (But apparently they can wait "incrementally...")
No comments:
Post a Comment