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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMinimum Wage Was Once Enough To Keep a Family of 3 Out of Poverty
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/12/minimum-wage-was-once-enough-keep-family-3-out-poverty/7773/Amid protests across the country over retail and service jobs that pay little better than the minimum wage, it's easy to forget that this income benchmark once meant something slightly different. In the past, a minimum-wage job was actually one that could keep a single parent out of poverty.
Since the 1980s, the federal minimum wage has kept pace with neither inflation, nor the rise of the average worker's paycheck. That means that while a federal minimum wage in 1968 could have lifted a family of three above the poverty line, now it can't even do that for a parent with one child, working full-time, 40 hours a week and 52 weeks a year (yes, this calculation assumes that the parent takes no time off).
In a Wednesday speech, President Obama pushed for a bill that would increase the federal wage to $10.10 (a rate closer in line with the most progressive municipal minimum wages, including one Washington, D.C. looks close to adopting). Perhaps that hike sounds unrealistic by historic standards. But it would actually bring us back to the kind of income floor America ensured prior to the 1980s, before Congress stopped passing the regular adjustments necessary to keep the minimum wage a livable one. Congress has only increased it twice since 1997.
This graph, from the Economic Policy Institute's David Cooper, neatly illustrates the minimum wage's precarious relationship to the poverty line. The dotted blue line at right shows what would happen if Congress were to pass the current bill proposed by Senator Tom Harkin and Representative George Miller (their bill would gradually raise the wage in three steps):
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Minimum Wage Was Once Enough To Keep a Family of 3 Out of Poverty (Original Post)
xchrom
Dec 2013
OP
Not only would raising the minimum wage help millions of individuals and families
NewJeffCT
Dec 2013
#7
This bill must pass.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)2. K&R....
Laelth
(32,017 posts)3. k&r for exposure. n/t
-Laelth
LisaLynne
(14,554 posts)4. And that should be the goal of the minimum wage.
Employers shouldn't be able to pay people less than what would keep them above the poverty line. And I'm tired of hearing how then they'll have to hire fewer people. Bullshit. How about cutting into all those massive profits and CEO salaries first? Those are both falsely exaggerated at the expense of the workers.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)5. K&R
JimDandy
(7,318 posts)6. Get this bill passed now! Solidarity! n/t
NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)7. Not only would raising the minimum wage help millions of individuals and families
it will also provide a nice stimulus for the economy, as most of that raise will go back into the economy.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)8. And I can personally testify that this is true. nt
KoKo
(84,711 posts)10. Thanks for the Reality Check!
karadax
(284 posts)11. Interesting to look at that chart and see the peak in 1968.
'68 was the year the government stopped backing the dollar with silver. Since then the trend has been downwards possibly breaking even with '68 in 2016.