Good
for workers, good for business, too
Harold
Ford Jr. and Pace Cooper
Memphis Commercial-Appeal
11/24/06
For
the millions of parents struggling to raise families
on $5.15 an hour, it is time for a well-deserved
and long-overdue raise in the federal minimum
wage.
The
last time Congress voted to raise the minimum
wage was in 1996, to its current level of $5.15.
For a 40-hour workweek, that amounts to $206 per
week and $10,700 per year -- $6,000 below the
poverty line for a family of three.
That's
not enough even to get by, and not nearly enough
to get ahead. When parents working 40, 50, or
60 hours a week cannot afford health care or decent
housing, or save even modest amounts for their
children's future, America is not fulfilling its
core values as a nation.
A
minimum wage increase enjoys broad support across
the country and the political spectrum. In this
month's elections, voters in six states (Arizona,
Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Nevada)
voted to raise their state minimum wages by as
much as $1.70 and index them to inflation annually.
That brings to 29 the number of states that have
established minimum wages higher than $5.15. Unfortunately,
Washington has not gotten the message that a fair
minimum wage is key to a strong and vibrant economy
where everyone has a chance at success.
For
the past 10 years, opponents of a minimum wage
increase have warned that higher wages lead to
fewer jobs. But data and experience prove that
these fears are unfounded. The modest minimum
wage increases that states have implemented have
had no significant impact on overall employment
levels. And from the perspective of employers,
higher wages could boost employee morale, reduce
turnover and make businesses generally more productive.
While
some minimum wage earners are younger workers
whose livelihood may not depend solely on the
wages they earn, the vast majority of those who
will benefit from a minimum wage increase are
single mothers and heads of households, who do
depend on a biweekly paycheck to support their
children. Survey data show that a minimum wage
increase would benefit 4.5 million women, including
3 million mothers and 623,000 single mothers/heads
of households. While women make up only 48 percent
of the U.S. work force, they represent 61 percent
of those who stand to benefit from an increase
in the minimum wage.
American
companies will no doubt see an increase in some
of their labor costs with an increase in the minimum
wage. For example, in Cooper Hotels' 21 hotels
in the United States, including 10 across Tennessee,
housekeepers and kitchen workers (who are currently
paid well above the $5.15 minimum wage) would
receive a pay increase to meet the $7.25 hourly
wage that has been proposed or just to stay in
the same relative position on the hotel's pay
scale.
Regardless
of this financial obligation, a minimum wage increase
would be good for business. It would foster a
healthy relationship between companies and employees,
which is essential to fulfilling customers' expectations.
On a more fundamental level, employers share in
the responsibility of helping all hard-working,
full-time employees support their children.
Millions
of minimum wage workers in the restaurant, retail,
health care, construction and janitorial industries
have earned a substantial raise. While the minimum
wage is not the only answer to poverty in America,
it provides a foundation for upward mobility.
No employee who works full time should have to
live in poverty, and every child of a minimum
wage worker deserves an equal shot at the American
dream.
Raising
the minimum wage is a priority that should unite
both political parties. And it provides an opportunity
for the new Democratic Congress and President
Bush to put politics behind them and deliver immediate
results.
U.S.
Rep. Harold Ford Jr. represents Tennessee's 9th
Congressional District. Pace Cooper is president/CEO
of Memphis-based Cooper Companies, which owns
and operates 21 hotels in nine states.
Copyright
(c) 2006, Commercial Appeal
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