THE ISSUE: Minimum wage

OUR OPINION: Increase to $7.25 will help in S.C.

The final installment in the minimum wage increase becomes effective today. The hike from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 was phased in over two years. The extra money won’t be nearly enough to overcome years of inflation that have put too many in poverty, but it will help.

South Carolina is a low-wage state. The minimum wage is reality for hundreds of thousands of people. Estimates have it that up to 325,000 will have received a raise when the final increase is implemented.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn said upon passage of the minimum wage increase in 2007: “This raise will help 7.4 million women and 3.3 million parents, with about 6 million children seeing their parents’ income rise. ... The increase of $2.10 an hour will give families like these an additional $4,400 a year to meet critical needs. That’s 15 months of groceries, over two years of health care, 19 months of utilities or 20 months of child care.”

Significant!

Opponents will argue the increase is anti-business, that it will lead to fewer jobs for young people and even mean less money for those in pay brackets just above minimum wage. But even the most ardent foe of an increase cannot deny the reality of the numbers: Before the minimum wage was increased, a full-time worker at $5.15 an hour earned about $11,000. That is about $6,000 below the poverty level for a family of three.

And even at the new level of $7.25, the same worker is making $15,000, still below the poverty level for that family of three.

Beyond the individual need factor, there is a case to be made that business will not suffer.

Studies by the Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research and education organization, show that in states that have a minimum wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage, the number of small businesses and the number of small business employees grew more and faster than other states.

If higher minimum wages are good for small business, they’re good for America. The nation’s 25 million small businesses make up 52 percent of the private sector work force. Small businesses create 75 percent of all new jobs.

Small business owners know that higher minimum wages mean more customer spending power. Higher minimum wages mean more productive workers and healthier local economies.

Hard-working people in this state and around the country deserve to make enough money to be able to afford a modest living. At $7.25 an hour, the minimum wage will not ensure that, but it will certainly improve the situation for a great many South Carolinians while not undermining business.

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