Minimum Wage debate and article

[KBCraig]

Good coverage.

Debate rages over calls to raise minimum wage

By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM
Union Leader Staff
2 hours, 49 minutes ago

With the state's low unemployment rate and thriving economy, even the youngest teenagers are earning more than the $5.15 federal and state minimum wage this summer.

So how much of an impact would raising the minimum wage have in New Hampshire, when very few workers, even in traditionally low-paying jobs, are making that rate?

According to New Hampshire Employment Security, approximately 16,000 workers out of a statewide labor force of 726,400 ? that?s around two percent ? make $5.15 an hour or below. And many of those work in ?tipped positions,? such as waiters/waitresses, who by law only have to be paid 45 percent of the minimum hourly rate.

Anita Josten, a research analyst with the Economic Labor Market Information Bureau at DES, said a recent state survey of employers found the average hourly pay for retail cashiers in Salem is $6.85. Up north, a cashier will earn $6.16 an hour.

Another traditionally low-paying job is food preparation. In the North Country, a food service worker will make $5.79 on average. In Salem and Manchester, he?ll make $7.45 and $7.55, respectively, according to NHES.

Even for waiters and waitresses, the average pay is still around $5.85 statewide ? before tips.

?In order to be competitive and get decent help ? or retain help ? they have to pay them competitive wages,? Josten said. ?And minimum wage isn?t that.?
Market forces

Still, as Congress appears poised to take up minimum wage legislation before mid-term elections this fall, several business owners tell the Sunday News they prefer to let the market define what?s a reasonable wage. It?s a system they say is working in New Hampshire.

Among them is Ron Evans, the owner/operator of three McDonald?s restaurants in Manchester.

At Evans? restaurants, even 14-year-olds start at just over the minimum wage. And adult managers can make $12 an hour.

?With unemployment being as low as it is in the state, it?s a challenge for us to find and keep good employees,? Evans said. ?And if we?re not willing to pay them more than $5.15 an hour, they?re not going to stay with us very long.?

?I think it?s a balancing act, between should you let the wage be what the market will require, or should you force a wage that could have a damaging influence,? he told the Sunday News. ?I personally come down on the side of letting the market tell you how much you should have to pay people, with a fair bottom end to it, whatever that bottom end should be.?

Tom Burke, owner of Bunny?s Superette in Manchester, said he hasn?t paid anyone minimum wage ?since the early ?70s.?

If the federal rate went up to $6.50 an hour, he said, ?It wouldn?t faze me in the least. I don?t know anyone who?s paying $6.50.?

But Burke doesn?t favor raising the minimum much higher; he worries businesses like his could find themselves in trouble if a recession hits. ?Wages really should be based on supply and demand,? he said.


Subsidizing workers?

On the other side of the issue, some contend that keeping wages low amounts to taxpayers subsidizing businesses, since adults who make at or near the minimum wage have to rely on government programs such as food stamps and housing subsidies to get by.

So says state Rep. Sandra B. Keans, a 12-term Republican from Rochester, who sponsored unsuccessful legislation to raise the state?s minimum wage last year.

When families don?t earn enough to pay the high cost of housing, Keans said, they end up coming to their local cities or towns for assistance. ?So therefore the community picks up that extra cost,? she said.

It?s better for the state as a whole to have a healthy, educated workforce, Keans says.

?If all the people that were working at Wal-Mart had a dollar an hour raise, they probably wouldn?t have to go to the town to help them subsidize their living,? she said. ?And then they could pay 20 cents an hour more to the daycare people that are taking care of their children, and the daycare worker could go home with 10 cents an hour more.?

?It stays in the community.?

Kristie MacNeil says she paid her employees twice the minimum wage when she owned MacNeil?s Corner Market in Concord. But her family sold the store a year ago because the cost of doing business just kept going up, especially for health insurance.

MacNeil said she opposes increasing the minimum wage unless the government makes it easier for small businesses to survive.

?When I look back over the past 20 years on all the little things that government has told my business to absorb, it just got to the point where we were only making two bucks an hour. How come no one?s worried about minimum wage for the owners?? she asked.

?Every time government gives us another unfunded mandate, we have more small businesses go under.?

She also points out she?s had employees refuse wage increases in the past because the raise would mean losing their benefits. ?If we increase the minimum wage, are we going to lose our workforce?? she asked.
Industry opposition

The strongest opposition to raising the minimum wage here has come from the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association. That hasn?t changed even as prevailing wages have gone up in that industry.

Kevin Sullivan, chairman of the board for the association, said he doesn?t know anyone among his membership who?s paying $5.15 an hour even for entry-level jobs. ?It?s supply and demand,? he said.

Even chambermaids are making $7 or $8 an hour, he said. And a study commissioned by his national association found waiters and waitresses earn an average of $13.50 an hour in tips.

Sullivan, who owns a Hampton catering business, acknowledged an increase in the minimum wage is ?inevitable.?

But he?s not happy about the prospect. He said such an increase would drive up wages across the board, increasing the cost of goods and services to customers.

?The argument is, no one?s making that, so why raise it?? he said.

Evans too said increasing the minimum wage is likely to increase the price of everything. ?The boat rises with the water,? he said. ?Being able to maintain value pricing becomes increasingly difficult.?

If Congress does raise the minimum wage, Evans suggests establishing a ?training wage? in the law, so companies could hire young teens at a lower rate. Otherwise, he predicted, businesses like his would be inclined to employ fewer youngsters and hire more adult full-time employees instead.

Whatever happens on the national level, the issue isn?t likely to go away here.

Keans plans to bring another proposal before the Legislature; she said she?d rather see the state adopt a higher minimum wage on its own than be forced to do so by a federal change. ?I?m going to keep fighting it until we get it passed here,? she said.

Keans contends the minimum wage should not be a partisan issue. ?I think there are only a few functions of government. One is to make us safe, and one is to keep us healthy and educated so we have a continuously prosperous society,? she said.

The notion of allowing market forces to dictate wages works in theory but not necessarily in practice, she said. ?I think we have an obligation to make sure that people who put in a good day?s work receive decent pay.?

But MacNeil, a Republican who is running for the State Senate, contends increasing the minimum wage by a dollar or two would only destroy more small businesses without really improving the quality of life for workers.

?To me, either we?re going to let a business pay what they can support or we?re going to talk about a livable wage,? she said. ?A minimum wage discussion is simply a joke.?

[Kat Kanning]

What's a depate?

[tracysaboe]

So Lots of people are already making more then minimum wage.

If that's already happening. Why do we need a law!

Retarded.

Tracy

[Lloyd Danforth]

What's a depate?

Tex-Arkanna thing

[aries]

So Lots of people are already making more then minimum wage.

If that's already happening. Why do we need a law!

Retarded.

Tracy

Rule in lawmaking = if there is no need, don't even introduce a law.

[Kat Kanning]

What's a depate?

Tex-Arkanna thing

Maybe a Tex-Arpanna thing.

[KBCraig]

What's a depate?

A scalping.

[Thespis]

I found this article on Mises.org last week when I was rebutting an article about the minimum wage.

[lildog]

If that's already happening. Why do we need a law!

So all the politicians can pat themselves on the back and put one more issue that they helped champian in on their web sites for the next time they are up for re-election.

One guy I know looking to run as a state rep in Merrimack asked me for advice... I told him to look over the state budget and point out where he'd suggest cutting and then look over the state laws and point to laws we don't need that he'll push to have removed.  And beyond that I told him to sit back and do very little else.  I don't know how much of that advice he's going to take though.