Lessening the gap between the rich and the poor is one of the most crucial moral issues to address in America today. Much of the problem has to do with fair wages. Some progress has been made. At the beginning of 2012, eight states raised their minimum wage, yet the ” title=”http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/reich/reports/pay.htm” target=”_blank”>passing the House by 382-37 and the Senate by 89-8. Today, politics has trumped justice.
The issue has become too muddied with partisanship. There was no increase from September 1997 until July 2007, at which point the minimum wage had fallen 22 percent in constant dollars while corporate profits had increased by 50 percent. (” title=”http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm” target=”_blank”>rising from $5.85 in July 2007 to its current level of $7.25 by July 2009. Some have noted that the decline in value of the minimum wage has coincided with the decline of the American middle class, as previously the minimum wage offered some families the chance to climb into the middle class, but now the gap is too wide.
Some argue that raising the cost of labor will hurt workers, since employers can hire fewer workers. At times, this may be true, but ” title=”http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/reich/reports/pay.htm” target=”_blank”>the impact on jobs is small.”
Indeed, minimum wage workers tend to work in industries that cannot be outsourced or eliminated (e.g., the fast food industry), so it is unlikely that a rise in minimum wage would reduce these jobs. ” title=”http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0019-8676.2004.00375.x/abstract” target=”_blank”>a study looking at airport employees found that not only did higher wages not lead to lower employment, but that it led to a reduced employee turnover.
We must consider not only the micro-economics but also the macro-economics. There is evidence to suggest that when low-wage workers have more spending-power, this will create jobs and create more demand for labor. For example, ” title=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barbara-ehrenreich/minimum-wage-rises-sky-do_b_39255.html” target=”_blank”>As Barbara Ehrenreich, who once described her vain attempt to survive on a wage (above the minimum) in Nickel and Dimed, wrote in 2007: “There is no moral justification for a minimum wage lower than a living wage. And given the experience of the …states that have raised their minimum wages, there isn’t even an amoral economic justification.”
Today, we can act to create change! We must make our Jewish voices heard in Congress at this crucial time where legislators are deciding whether or not to raise the minimum wage. Uri L’Tzedek and partners now have ” title=”http://signon.org/sign/raise-new-yorks-minimum” target=”_blank”>signed on?
Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz is the Founder & President of ” title=”http://shamayimvaretz.org/” target=”_blank”>The Shamayim V’Aretz Institute, and a 6th year doctoral candidate at Columbia University in Moral Psychology & Epistemology. Rav Shmuly’s book “” title=”http://www.thedailybeast.com/galleries/2012/04/02/america-s-top-50-rabbis-for-2012.html#slide40″ target=”_blank”>Newsweek named Rav Shmuly one of the most influential rabbis in America.
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