Should We Raise the Minimum Wage?

In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, a basic principle of American economic life should be that if you work 40 hours or more a week, you don’t live in poverty. Sadly, that’s not the case today.

While large corporations make record-breaking profits and top CEOs earn about 335 times more per hour than the average worker, millions of Americans are trying to survive on totally inadequate wages. The situation has become so absurd that there isn’t a single state in America where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford to rent a one-bedroom apartment.

The current $7.25-an-hour federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. It must be raised to a living wage. That’s why I’m introducing legislation to raise it to $15 an hour by 2024 and then automatically adjust it to keep up with the rising cost of living.

Since 1968, the minimum wage has lost more than 25 percent of its purchasing power. That’s a major reason why more than 43 million Americans are living in poverty. Health-care costs, childcare costs, college costs, and housing costs are all going up. Wages are not. That’s got to change.

By phasing in a pay raise for tens of millions of workers, we can improve living standards, lift millions of Americans out of poverty, and provide a much-needed boost to our economy. Our bill will raise the wages of 41 million workers, giving full-time workers an extra $3,500 a year.

In 1970, when I was 15 years old, I got my first job, as a dishwasher in a Walgreen’s grill. The job paid the restaurant minimum wage at the time of $1.45 an hour. Like most people, I didn’t start at the top of the ladder of opportunity; I started close to—if not at—the bottom.

The job, and my performance, taught me and my employers a lot. It taught me the importance of having a good attitude, working hard, showing up
on time, striving for efficiency, getting along with co-workers, and positively contributing to an organization.
It taught me all work has value and helped incentivize me to obtain enough education to pursue opportunities
I preferred.

Within my first year of working that minimum wage job, I was promoted three times. That job, and every job thereafter, helped me obtain better opportunities with better pay and benefits.

My experience isn’t unique. In fact, it’s generally how the world works. And that’s why I don’t think it’s a good idea to mandate a dramatically higher federal minimum wage.