Working Poor Deserve More

What will $4.25 buy you these days?

A pair of socks. A quarter tank of gas. Dinner at Wendy’s.

It won’t buy you a lot of respect or understanding from the majority of this country’s decision makers on Capitol Hill.

Politicians are squabbling over a 90-cent increase to the minimum wage over the next two years. Democrats are vowing to do right by the working poor, though Americans didn’t hear a peep out of them during the two years they controlled Congress. Republicans say a wage hike will hurt business, cause layoffs and raise prices.

Both sides are holding dueling press conferences. One featured Montana Rep. Pat Williams doing his best Dickensian impression of Oliver Twist, begging for more from Republicans who have successfully blocked a vote. Vice President Al Gore stacked up nine thin dimes - while chastising his cold-hearted colleagues - to illustrate the issue.

The Republicans wail that election-year politics are fueling the Democrat’s zeal. They’re mostly right. But the motivation behind the push doesn’t diminish the very real need for a hand up to America’s lowest-paid workers.

The minimum wage hasn’t been raised for seven years - inflation has rendered the wage its lowest value in 40 years. And the very people who would benefit from an increase are the ones who might otherwise wind up on welfare - and we all know how politicians feel about welfare.

Americans don’t agree on much, but a recent survey showed a near unanimous public - about 84 percent - believes the minimum wage should be increased. Americans also agree people should be rewarded for hard work. A lifetime on minimum wage won’t buy anyone the American dream.

Economists differ on the impact an increase would have. Some say it would price the poor right out of the market again when prices are raised to compensate for business owners’ losses. Or, people will simply lose their jobs.

But a group of 101 economists - including three Nobel Prize winners and seven past presidents of the American Economics Association - say the “minimum wage can be increased by a moderate amount without significantly jeopardizing employment opportunities.”

An increase would help millions of people - and hundreds of thousands of families living in poverty. Nearly two-thirds of those earning minimum wage are adults, and 40 percent are the sole wage earner for their family.

Ever try supporting a family on $8,850 a year? You can bet members of Congress - who make more than that in a month with their $133,600-a-year salaries - have never even considered the anguish.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Anne Windishar/For the editorial board