by Dr. C. Edgar
To the Burien City Council and City Manager:
Increasing the minimum wage to $19 per hour for the lowest income workers contributes to unemployment, inflation, poverty, no actual increase in real income spending power, and loss of civil rights.
Minimum wage policies fail to combat poverty and instead induce cost-push inflation, reducing real wages. By directing those at the lowest end of the wage spectrum into the ranks of the unemployed, minimum wage laws have an unfairly disproportionate effect on the impoverished, thereby exacerbating income inequality. Finally, from a social perspective, minimum wage policies violate workers’ freedom of contract by interfering with their employment-seeking process, and the existence of minimum wages can weaken workers’ negotiation power in wage bargaining. It is argued that not only should we not raise the minimum wage, but we should also completely abolish this policy since it contributes to unemployment, inflation, poverty, and loss of civil rights.
Study after study talks about the lowest wage scale workers not seeing increased benefits from raising the minimum wage because it is these workers who regularly get their hours cut once the minimum wage is increased. Research shows that with a minimum wage increase, their actual spending power remains flat or actually decreases.
The Burien City Council has said they want data to drive decisions. Here are some facts:
Burien is not the most expensive city in King County to live in. King County and the State of Washington are not the most expensive areas of the U.S.A. to live in. The most expensive city in the country to live in is New York, NY.=Min, wage $15.00, L.A.=Min. wage $15.50,San Fran.=Min. wage$18.07,Honolulu-=Min.wage$12, D.C.=Min. wage $16.10 to $17.00, Boston=$15.00, San Diego=Min.wage$16, Miami=$11.00, Chicago=Min. wage$15.00-$15.80. So why $19.00 per hour Min. wage for Burien and White Center? And Burien and Unincorporated KC do not have the highest housing costs in the U.S.A. This proposal for $19 dollars per hour in Burien and Unincorporated KC is totally unwarranted, and absurd and fuels the fires of inflation, rising housing costs, and further homelessness in KC.
If you are a politician who claims to care about Burien, loves its small-town flavor, wants the survival of its small businesses, and cares for those at the low end of the economy, don’t vote for this $19 per hour minimum wage!
Respectfully,
Dr. C. Edgar
