Issue Position: The Minimum Wage

Issue Position

Wyoming currently has the lowest minimum wage of any state in the union. What does that say to the world about how we value work? Hard work and individualism is supposedly a core value for us, so why do we not support paying a living wage to our workers?

The usual criticism of raising the minimum wage is that it will "kill jobs." But I firmly believe the opposite is true: higher wages creates jobs. If companies are allowed to exploit their workers by paying poverty-level wages, two things happen. First, corporate profits go up, but they are distributed to the already-wealthy executives and shareholders of the corporation, who then hoard that money rather than spend it. Second, workers forced to work at substandard wages have less money to spend. If we could put more money into the hands of more workers, they would spend that money, increasing the demand for products and services. That increased demand creates jobs for those who make the products and provide the services. Study after study proves that as worker pay increases and the middle class expands, everybody does well, even those at the top of the economic pyramid. It is no coincidence that our most prosperous times in recent history (the 1950s through the early 1970s) coincided with the era of the largest and strongest middle class.

I therefore strongly support increasing the minimum wage. It is good for the workers, it creates job, and is ultimately good for the economy.

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