It's not often that we get the chance to applaud all three of our state representatives -- Assemblywoman Francine Del Monte and Sens. George Maziarz and Byron Brown -- in the same week, so it was a pleasure to see that all three supported a measure to raise the state minimum wage from its current $5.15 an hour to $7.15.
The increase was opposed by business groups, most notably the state's Chamber of Commerce, which trotted out the tired canard that any increase would merely force small businesses to cut back on the number of people they have working for them. This argument has been raised time and time again over the decades, and its speciousness has been well documented by numerous academic studies.
Also debunked is the notion that minimum wage jobs are primarily held by teen-agers working simply to pick up some extra spending money. Here in Niagara County, 9,300 men and women -- a full 10.3 percent of the work force -- hold minimum wage jobs. Across the state, it is estimated that more than 500,000 workers will be affected by the increase.
Apparently, chamber officials rarely visit convenience stores, fast food restaurants, supermarkets or other venues where the minimum wage is the norm. If they did, they would notice that retirees, struggling to make ends meet on fixed incomes, constitute a greater and greater portion of the underpaid.
Based on a 2,000-hour work year, a person earning the current $5.15 minimum makes $10,300 annually, clearing $8,000 or less. You can't live on that, and a single mother making the minimum has no choice but to collect welfare, food stamps and other forms of public assistance to make up the difference.
In other words, the taxpayers are forced to subsidize those employers who cannot -- or will not -- pay a living wage.
In the end, raising the minimum wage is good for business. The more money people have, the more they spend, and consumer spending is at the heart of our nation's economy.
While the Republican-controlled state Senate had to be dragged kicking and screaming to pass the measure -- Democrats in the Assembly have approved an increase annually in recent years -- we're pleased that Del Monte, Maziarz and Brown showed the foresight and courage to do the right thing for their constituents.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 27 2004 |