Earlier in this month, Louisiana Public Broadcasting hosted a panel discussion about a partisan issue affecting the lives of the working poor and business leaders alike, a minimum wage increase.
LPB had a panel of experts to debate the issue, along with a room full of audience members consisting of small business owners, Young Americans for Liberty, College Democrats, high school students and activists.
Students should be concerned with the current minimum wage taking off again not just in college political clubs, social media and local media, but soon to be legislature chambers.
Many students currently work at fast food restaurants or convenience stores to help pay tuition and living expenses.
A raise in the minimum wage would positively affect many students who are currently working minimum wage jobs and trying to make ends meet.
President Barack Obama sparked the minimum wage debate this year by declaring that it should be set at $10.10 per hour. During the State of the Union in January, Obama made a call for state legislatures, mayors and governors to take up the task of raising the minimum wage.
La. Rep. Herbert Dixon is one of the legislators who answered Obama’s call to raise the minimum wage. Dixon’s bill will help hundreds of thousands of working poor people, but there is strong opposition in the state to raising the minimum wage.
The Young Americans for Liberty members were against the idea of the minimum wage because they felt it hurt the people they are trying to help. This is the standard libertarian view that government intervention into the market causes more problems than it solves.
One of the YAL members felt it was immoral to raise the minimum wage because it would put some out of work.
This is a weak argument because it neglects the reality that many in poverty have jobs and that those who may lose a job will have a safety net until the market adjusts. It is immoral for someone to work full time and be in poverty.
The audience also included members of the College Democrats. One of them made it clear that the increase of the minimum wage is just a bandage and should be gradual.
Dixon informed the audience that his bill, if passed, would gradually increase the minimum wage to $9 and by 2017 will be set to grow with inflation.
David Gray, from the Louisiana Budget Project, explained that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would raise the income of more than 360,000 workers and pump $689 million into the state economy.
One of Gray’s best remarks was about the $15 minimum wage in SeaTac, Wash. Gray said many businesses received a flood of applicants from people across the state and even out of state.
Gray’s work clearly demonstrates that raising the minimum wage is ultimately beneficial for the workers and the economy as a whole.
The two panelists against the minimum wage were economist Robert Hebert and Jim Patterson, Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. Robert argued from the perspective of economics 101 with the price of labor increasing leading to a decrease in demand for labor.
Hebert ignores that not all factors remain the same when the minimum wage increases because after the increase, workers’ income increased, translating to an increase in consumption and leading to increased economic activity.
Patterson and Hebert expressed negative concerns the business community has regarding a possible raise in the minimum wage, but what they both fail to address is whether these businesses will actually lay off people as opposed to them just wanting to do so.
The argument against the minimum wage is an emotional one that comes from the idea that the free market is close to perfect and the government should just stay out of it. The reality is that the only reason the minimum wage exists is because of the failure of the marketplace to provide a living wage for the working poor.
Joshua Hajiakbarifini is a 24-year-old political science and economics senior from Baton Rouge.