The current value of the federal minimum wage — $7.25 per hour — is often compared to the cost of living, the average wage in the economy, or the productivity of the average worker. By all of these benchmarks, the current federal minimum is well below its historical levels.
But the current minimum wage looks even worse when compared with two kinds of purchases strongly associated with a middle-class standard of living or the ability to move up to the middle class: health insurance and a college degree.
The table below shows the results of a simple exercise. We ask how many hours did a minimum-wage worker have to work to pay for a year of college education (at various kinds of institutions) or a year of health insurance (for an individual or a family). The table compares the experience facing a minimum-wage worker in 1979 — when the minimum wage was $2.90 per hour — with that of a minimum-wage worker in 2010 or 2011 — when the minimum wage was $7.25. (All wages and prices, here and below, are in current dollars — that is the actual dollar value at the time, without any adjustment for inflation. The point is to compare the minimum wage in place in each period with the actual cost of health and education services at the same point in time.)
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DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
1 comment:
I make $13.25 an hour and can't afford health insurance! My employer doesn't offer an insurance plan of any kind. My husband has pre-existing conditions that pretty much leave him uninsurable.
Not because of debt either, no credit card balances, no vehicle payments, just mortage, taxes and insurance on vehicles and home.
And people wonder why so many people are on "assistance".
If I can't afford to buy health insurance at $934.00 a month, for a plan with a $5,000.00 deductible, just for me, how in the world do they expect me to do it once they "force" me to do it. They'll just have to fine me, but guess what, I can't afford to pay a fine either.
The insurance companies have gotten greedy and so has our government! Until we stop the greed, we're all doomed!
This country is headed for the basket and in a hurry!
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