Give Missourians a raise

When I was 19-years-old, I lost my father. I never received Social Security survivor benefits because they said I was over 18-years-old. I am now almost 21-years-old and trying to put myself through community college; supporting myself by working a minimum wage job as a server in a restaurant in rural Missouri.
No one can really make it in today’s economy on $5.15 per hour. I can barely make ends meet. I can’t imagine how a fulltime worker with a family of three survives on a minimum wage salary.
It’s not right. People who are willing to work hard should be able to support their families. We minimum wage workers work hard, and we deserve a decent wage. Honest work deserves honest pay.
That is why it is important we raise the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $6.50 per hour.
The minimum wage in Missouri has not been increased in almost 10 years. Meanwhile, the cost of basic necessities — food, housing, healthcare, and transportation — has climbed by 26 percent over the same time period.
Look at the increase in the cost of gasoline over the past year. With gas prices as high as they were this summer, it costs me a day’s work just to fill my tank. Remember that those of us making the minimum wage are paying these same higher prices for goods as everyone else — but without the benefit of having an increase in wages to be able to pay the higher prices.
Already, 22 other states have increased their minimum wage above the federal rate of $5.15 per hour. These states include Illinois and Arkansas, two states that border Missouri, as well as Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. It is time for Missouri to catch up with our neighboring states.
Some charge that raising the minimum wage will lead to substantial job losses. It’s just not true. In fact, states haven’t lost jobs since raising the minimum wage. They have gained jobs.
The non-partisan Fiscal Policy Institute found that job growth was faster in states that had raised the minimum wage than it was in states that remained at the federal rate of $5.15 per hour. This is just common sense. When customers have more money in their pockets because of the increase in the minimum wage, they are able to spend more money at area businesses.
All we have to do is look at the experience of Illinois, which raised its minimum wage in 2005. After the increase, I didn’t notice many businesses moving across the Mississippi River to take advantage of Missouri’s lower minimum wage. Did you?
Other naysayers charge that the main beneficiaries of a higher minimum wage are teenagers who are still living at home and therefore don’t really need the income. The truth is 72% of Missourians who would benefit from this increase are over 20-years-old; 24% are parents. A raise in the minimum wage is needed so that hard-working adults can provide for themselves and their families.
Why has Congress refused to raise the minimum wage by one penny, even as they have voted to give themselves over $30,000 in raises over the same time period? If the politicians in Washington can give themselves a raise, why shouldn’t hard working Missouri families get a raise as well?
It’s time to take matters into our own hands and give Missourians — and all Americans — a raise.

Editor’s note: Randy Downs, a 20-year-old Franklin County resident who works a minimum wage job while putting himself through community college. He can be reached at 636-358-2739 (in Washington). The Missouri Forum, a nonprofit, non- partisan, educational organization with offices in Jefferson City, provides views from  on major public concerns to this newspaper in order to stim- ulate informed discussion.