NYC-Feature Story

$pread the Wealth
We can have a living wage and teen jobs, too

By Catherine Cosmo

For my first job when I was 16, I worked as a part-time cashier at a Party City store. My starting wage was $8.15. At the end of each week, I had enough spending money for food, clothes, and outings with friends. But a few weeks into my job, I discovered something that surprised me.

One of my co-workers, who’d been there for a few years as a full-time worker, got paid less than me. I found it strange that a middle-aged woman who had seniority was paid only $7.25 an hour. And I felt especially sorry since I was just a teenager working part-time for pocket money, while my co-worker was an adult trying to support herself.

Interestingly, in an October 2009 editorial, the Wall Street Journal argued that the federal minimum wage shouldn’t have been raised to $7.25 last summer because that would leave employers less money to hire teens. Naturally, I appreciate the Wall Street Journal putting forth this argument on behalf of teenagers everywhere. Employment gives us the experience and skills needed to be successful in the future. It’s reassuring to know that the Wall Street Journal acknowledges this.

Teens Hit Hard

The editorial was written in response to dismal September job reports that stated 263,000 jobs were lost that month in the U.S. The Journal argued that teens suffered the biggest losses. Apparently, 330,000 teen jobs were lost from July to September. (That figure is adjusted to account for the usual fluctuation of jobs from season to season.)

The Journal places the blame for these job losses on July’s increase of the minimum wage from $6.55 an hour to $7.25 an hour. The authors go on to cite Labor Department figures estimating that only 1.1% of full-time workers are actually making only minimum wage, and that minimum wage workers are most likely to be teens. Finally, they argue that “It is precisely when the economy is down and businesses are slashing costs that raising the minimum wage is so destructive to job creation.”

Missing Pieces

However, for all arguments there are counter arguments. First of all, if so few adults are making only the minimum wage, why is it that many teens are told that they need to be 18 or over to be hired?

Even if it’s true that minimum wage jobs mostly belong to teens, the editorial leaves out a lot. The authors said a recession is the wrong time to raise the minimum wage, but they forgot to explain why the minimum wage never rose from $5.15 between 1997 and 2007, even during years when the economy flourished.

And yes, they admitted that “The biggest explanation [for job losses] is of course the bad economy.” They failed to mention, however, the role of rich bankers and businessmen in creating our dire economic situation.

Obvious Solutions

The editorial suggests the authors are deeply concerned about job losses among “the least skilled and the young.” But when we know that big banks’ gambling caused the recession—the main reason behind increasing job losses—it seems strange that they would avoid mentioning wealthy culprits and instead spend their energy arguing against a measure that gives the least skilled who are employed a little more money in tough times.

No one wants job losses. But the editorial’s argument offers only two ways to solve the job loss problem: Keep the minimum wage low, or sacrifice teen jobs. This doesn’t make much sense. Many companies that have laid off minimum wage workers have top executives who make extremely large salaries. If our economic situation is so disastrous, why can’t these business moguls take a pay cut and keep their workers?

Unfortunately, in this greedy social and economic climate, the possibility of that ever happening is unrealistic—in fact, some people argue that there shouldn’t be a minimum wage at all. Imagine how companies could take advantage of their workers without a minimum wage law to follow. I believe there needs to be a minimum wage, and it needs to be raised occasionally to keep up with inflation (the rising cost of goods and services over years). If $7.25 an hour was too much, they could have raised it from $6.55 to $7.00. But it can’t stay the same forever.

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