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Their Fair Share

Feb 26, 2014
by Caroline Miller
"The Anti-Economist", Bill de Blasio, Jeff Madrick, living wage
4 Comments

What’s a living wage? The president thinks $10.10 is the magic number. The governors of some states think it’s more. Some think it’s less. I’m not sure how our leaders come up with these figures but in my mind a living wage shouldn’t be a specific number. It should be a percentage of economic output. Put another way, workers’ wages should rise or fall with the wealth of the country. I don’t say the percentage should be the same for everyone but all workers should be treated as shareholder in the overall economy.

 For several years now, the worker’s share in the nation’s wealth has been dwindling. Jeff Madrick, writing in Harper’s, notes that wages for “those whom the government calls ‘production and non-supervisory workers’ – the nonmanagerial class – have risen only 3 percent since 1979 while labor productivity has risen 90 percent.” (“The Anti-Economist,” by Jeff Madrick, Harper’s 2/14/ pg. 10.) And while wages during an economic recovery do normally rise, until 2013 they have fallen.

Madrick believes when New York City broke its long standing tradition of electing Republican mayors and voted for Democratic liberal, Bill de Blasio, they were reflecting their discontent with their diminishing share in the nation’s recovery. de Blasio made the growing disparity between the rich and the poor the cornerstone of his campaign and he was right to do so. But defining a living wage by a fixed number, like $10.10, must inevitably lose ground over time, especially in a growing economy. That’s why a different formula is required. Workers are investors in their country and they deserve a fair share of its prosperity.

The American Worker

 

 

 

 

 

(Courtesy of thinkprogress.org)

 

 

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4 Comments
  1. tuna cole February 26, 2014 at 9:34 pm Reply
    Well said, Caroline. You know, one rubric for a "minimum" wage is that, if earned from a full time job, which provides for the basic expenses of life for a family of four without requiring public assistance. If that were the standard to measure by, $15 or maybe even $18/hr. might not be enough.
    • Caroline Miller February 27, 2014 at 7:29 am Reply
      I agree with you about the standard. Think a base hourly wage should be scrapped. It's always behind the times and quickly out of date. Wages should be based on the overall economy as the worker is a shareholder in the prosperity of the country, like a shareholder in the market. I have more to say on this in a future blog. Thanks, Tuna,for your comment.
  2. Christine Webb February 27, 2014 at 2:11 pm Reply
    Caroline, then how would salaries be adjusted if the economy goes down for a couple of years? Would workers all across the nation willingly take a cut in pay for the good of the economy? Seems possible that smaller businesses, out of the way rural businesses, mom and pop shops, and companies that don't make the profit larger companies make might have a difficult time paying a wage based on the prosperity of the country, in that their level of prosperity may not be equal to that of our country. Would this wage schedule help create new jobs or possibly facilitate bringing work back from overseas? So glad to read that you are offering a possible solution. Up to this point, no one seems to know what to do to generate a fair wage. Looking forward to more thoughts in your future blog...
    • Caroline Miller February 27, 2014 at 2:56 pm Reply
      Well, I'm no economist, but roughly it could work like social security payments that are tied to the Consumer Price Index. In some years, when the ecoonmy is down, social security payments don't increase but are frozen at their current levels. Understand, I'm throwing out an idea that is intended to challenge the current idea of tying salaries to an hourly wage which soon becomes inadaquate. Consider the impact of automation on jobs in the future, for example. While automation does create employment, so far it hasn't matched the pace of the industrial revolution. Many people may find their work days will be reduced to part time, yet they have fixed income needs. To see the future, look at the current economy. It is efficient and growing, but employment is stagnant by comparison. Businesses have learned to be lean because salaries are the biggest part of most budgets. Employers have cut osts by creating parttime positions. They can do more with less. So, having a job is no longer a guarantee that workers will share in the nation's productivity. If that proves to be generally true, what forumla do we apply to share the fruits of a growing economy? Not by fixing hoursly wages. See where we are headed? We're producing an underclass of workers, even among professionals, who can't make a living. The hourly wage may be a concept as dead as the dodo bird. Thanks fo your question.

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Contact Caroline at

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Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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