A pair of progressive Democrats unveiled a bill on Tuesday that would raise the federal minimum wage to $25 per hour, considered the bare minimum a single adult needs to meet the cost of living in much of the US.
The Living Wage For All Act is the first bill to be introduced by the newly sworn-in Rep. Analilia Mejía (D-NJ), who won a special election earlier this month after helping to lead the fight for a $15 minimum wage in her home state of New Jersey.
I wish we would stop chasing moving targets here. 2031 is just 5 years, but what will it mean with inflation? Using an inflation calculator and comparing $25 from five years ago (2021), to today’s inflation rate, it bring us to $30.47 in 2026. Over five dollars in five years.
I’m no mathematician or economist, so correct me if I’m wrong, but if inflation continues this trend, wouldn’t enacting a $25 wage in 5 years still bring us below a minimum living wage? That is, if we’d started the fight for $25 five years ago, maybe it’d make sense to make it that number today. But by picking a target that makes sense today and pushing it 5 years into the future, doesn’t that mean it’ll be $5 weaker (or whatever change inflation causes) when it finally rolls out?
Calculate future inflation before picking the target, then tie the number to inflation, damn it. These low numbers just mean we’ll keep chasing new minimums and will always be left behind.
I agree, we need to stop chasing a moving target. Instead, minimum wage needs to be adjusted every year to account for inflation.
Fun fact, the maximum amount you can donate to your congressmen is increased every year to account for inflation. So, we already have the formulas in place.