Time for Sacramento to raise the minimum wage and pass a living-wage ordinance

Raising wages to a living wage isn’t simple. Just like how fighting poverty has proven to be a much more simple matter in theory than in reality.

But while all wages have been relatively stagnant for the last several decades, the workers at the bottom of the wage scale have suffered the most.

We can’t expect workers to be self-supporting while working low-wage and minimum-wage jobs. It’s just not possible. Even with unrealistically low costs for things like food, rent, utilities and health insurance (not provided by most low-wage workplaces), most low-wage earners need roommates and a second job in order to live above the poverty level.

These workers aren’t just young kids in temporary jobs. Let’s kill that myth. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that roughly three-quarters of minimum-wage workers are over 20 years old—not teenagers living at home, but young adults trying to make a living. More than half of them are women. And these aren’t part-time workers, either; more than half work full-time.

That’s right: They work full-time and yet live in poverty.

And, one way or another, those of us fortunate enough to make a decent living are paying for other employers’ low wages. A large number of working adults find it necessary to access public assistance. That’s billions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize businesses’ low wages.

Let’s say that again: People who are working full-time are not making enough to escape poverty. Businesses cushion their bottom lines by paying less, and then taxpayers bail them out.

The usual argument against raising the minimum wage constitutes complaints that employers will simply hire fewer workers, or be forced to raise prices. Here in Sacramento, leaders say our economy isn’t San Jose or San Francisco, and local businesses can’t absorb the hit of raising wages.

It’s true that Sacto is not the Silicon Valley. But with S.F. voters opting to raise its wage to $15 this past Tuesday, and other cities up and down the West Coast doing the same, the time is now for city leaders to start a conversation about what a living wage in Sacramento should look like.

A mandatory minimum wage, one that allows full-time workers to support themselves and their families, is a free-market friendly response to poverty. It rewards people who are working—and isn’t hard work what we want to encourage?

What’s more, low-wage workers spend far more of their income, therefore putting more dollars back into the local economy.

Upping the minimum wage is the smart and right thing to do. Paying a living wage for certain jobs is just plain good business. Fifteen dollars an hour is a nice goal, but a dialogue is the first step.

Red states such as Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota raised their minimums this past Election Day. Sacramento needs get on board.

We urge our readers to support a minimum-wage ordinance in the city of Sacramento.