Policymakers at the federal level are often concerned about inflation, and more recently inflation with reference to the minimum wage and its devaluation. At the state level, various minimum wages have been put into effect, ranging from reliance on the federal wage ($7.25 an hour) in states like North Carolina, all the way to $14 an hour in California.
Recently, Democrats in the House and Senate have been pushing for a $15 minimum wage. From a study by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), an increase in the minimum wage would lift many people out of poverty, with the cost of putting almost one and a half million jobs at risk over the next four years. Critics further argue that a standardized minimum wage would increase costs of living to unbearable standards. They additionally state that such an action would severely impact businesses during the coronavirus pandemic. Meanwhile, proponents of an action, most notably Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, say that the total economic benefit is still positive, meaning that the resulting spending actions of those brought out of poverty would outweigh the loss of jobs.
Other proponents argue not just for a standardized wage, but an ever-changing one that takes into account the costs of living for the local area and the inflation rate. I lean strongly towards this idea, although I’m still not sure how such a proposal would be implemented. The advantage of a standardized minimum wage is, after all, easy implementation. Another proposal that I could get behind is waiting the pandemic out. After it is over, the effect a wage increase would have on businesses would be smaller, and then the government could raise it to something like twelve or fifteen dollars an hour.
Another idea is to expand federal benefits programs, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Earned Income Tax Credit. This, I would argue, should be applied along with a moderate increase to the wage in order to help low-income families.