Living wage helps workers and economy

Throughout the decades, there have been several less than half-hearted efforts to raise the minimum wage as a more direct way to reduce poverty and boost the economy. However, business by its proxies has always won out against all initiatives on the grounds that such measure would destroy jobs and ruin particularly small businesses.

Strangely enough, no one in authority, let alone in academic circles, has ever arithmetically and/or precedently challenged such claims. Had anyone done so, it would have been found that raising the minimum wage to the level of a “living wage” is indeed an arithmetically provable, expeditious, and effective method to quell poverty. Furthermore, such measure would increase the consumer base, expand the economy, reduce the unemployment/underemployment rates, increase the much needed government revenue base, let alone that it would improve the “bottom line” for business.

A precedent based method developed by Henry Ford, the late automaker of 100 years ago, as he raised his workers’ wage from $1-a-day to $5-a-day, or by 400 per cent, to the chagrin of his cohorts.

As a result, his workers owned their car in one year and their house in 10 years.

More recently, workers of Denmark have become beneficiaries of a “living wage” law, as their lawmakers legislated an hourly “living wage” to nearly $20; although they did it at the peril of being labelled “socialist” by some. And that’s a very scary label that many Canadian politicians are not willing to wear on their lapel. Edmond Meyers Kitchener