A Pay Raise for Iowa?
By The Iowa Policy Project
A minimum-wage increase would benefit tens of thousands of working Iowans, the majority over age 20 and most of them female, according to a new report.
“Iowa’s minimum wage has remained at $5.15 since 1997,” said Elaine Ditsler, research associate for the nonpartisan Iowa Policy Project (IPP) and author of the report. “Back then, gasoline cost $1.22 per gallon and in-state tuition at the University of Iowa was $2,470. Those costs have more than doubled.”
Ditsler also noted rising prices for housing, health insurance and other consumer goods.
“The purchasing power of the minimum wage is at its lowest level since 1949,” she said. “A pay raise for Iowa’s working families is past due.”
According to the report, 21 states and the District of Columbia have raised their minimum wage above the federal level of $5.15. Seven of those states are above $7 per hour and four states adjust the wage every year for inflation.
“More than half the U.S. population is now covered by a state minimum wage higher than the federal level, including our neighbors in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois,” Ditsler said. “Low-wage Iowans have been left behind.”
The report also addressed the typical arguments made in opposition to a higher minimum wage. “Economic research shows that a modest increase in the minimum wage does not negatively affect employment, and may actually lead to higher productivity,” added IPP Research Director and economist Peter Fisher.
The report found a minimum wage increase to $6.15 would benefit 53,000 working Iowans. The average hourly pay raise would be 37 cents. Of those workers:
€ 57 percent are over age 20;
€ 61 percent are female;
€ 27 percent work full time; and
€ 12 percent are parents.
If the minimum wage were increased to $7.25 per hour, about 257,000 Iowans – or 18 percent of all workers – would receive an average hourly wage increase of 60 cents. Of those workers:
€ 75 percent are over age 20;
€ 58 percent are female;
€ 42 percent work full time; and
€ 20 percent are parents.
The report also found that Iowa’s more rural northern, western, and southern regions have the largest share of workers who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage. Numbers were also available for Iowa’s six most populous counties (Polk, Linn, Scott, Black Hawk, Johnson, and Woodbury). If the minimum wage were increased to $7.25, about 24,000 workers in Polk County, or 12 percent of all workers, would benefit. In Black Hawk County, about 14,000 workers, or 23 percent of all workers, would benefit.
The report is available on the web at http://www.iowapolicyproject.org. The Iowa Policy Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization based in Mount Vernon.
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i hate to play devil's advocate, but what response do progressives have to the charge that minimum wage increases ultimately are off-set by the increases in inflation they cause? businesses don't just absorb the costs of wage increases; they pass them on to customers. otherwise, they are looking at a decrease in anticipated earnings, viewed esp. by corporate boards and wall street as the same as a loss. if any gains in wages are offset by higher costs at the grocery story and target, what's the point? are liberals just benefitting from a politically popular issue that doesn't really untimately help anyone? if we really want to help those who are struggling, let's focus on issues that will actually make a real difference in people's pocketbooks and their lives, such as truly affordable and accessible healthcare and childcare. sure, the minimum wage is a nice little wedge issue for dems that could be leveraged in a number of ways. but isn't it just more politics as usual, just another substitute for real change?
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I guess the minimum wage should still be $3.50 then huh?
If it was up to corporate America there wouldn't be a minimum wage. It would be legal to pay .06 cents an hour.
Ask yourself what life would be like if people didn't stand up for themselves through their legislators?
We the people … right?
I don't think the people who head up the corporations are evil, but the bottomline is.
It's hard to walk by a hundred dollar bill laying on the ground, and equally as hard for a corporation to not do everything possible to save money.
Ultimately that's why there's a minimum wage, because without it there would be a huge mass of jobs that just wouldn't pay hardly anything at all. It's bad enough that corporate America is luring imigrant workers to this country and paying them sub-minimum wages w/ NO benefits.
Either we stand up for the working class or we watch as America is turned by into something that resembles Upton Sinclair's “The Jungle.”
Know that it's the Rethugs who want to do away w/ government requirements to label food w/ ingredients. They're the ones who have cut inspections down to almost nothing.
It only makes sense that corporations have a better record when it comes to inspections when the government has slashed its budget to inspect. No inspections, no infractions.
And we're the ones who are getting cancer and other weird long term problems.
Don't give a damn?
Which side really care about life?
Ask yourself that!
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