Gordaen's Blog

Minimum wage skyrockets… assuming the rocket is setup by one of the NASA scientists who doesn’t know inches from centimeters and he set the rocket on the guide upsidedown… Minimum wage was set at $5.15 in 1997. Now, nine years later, it is still $5.15 an hour. Fortunately some states realize this is ridiculous and have opted to enforce a higher minimum standard.

It’s interesting to note that if inflation is 3% a year, the minimum wage would have to be approximately $6.72 today to have the same value as it did then. $5.15 today is worth $3.92 in 1997 dollars! Minimum wage is worth about $10,000 a year. I don’t think minimum wage should be set to $20 or anything, but it should at least keep up with inflation.

Compare that to senator wages. They earned $133,600 per year in 1997 (excluding all the benefits of course) and in 2006 their salary is $165,200. Why is it so important to adjust the salary for senators every year but not for minimum wage workers? Intelligent states like Washington and Oregon already adjust their minimum wages to keep up with inflation (offering $7.63 and $7.50 respectively), so it’s obviously possible.

It’s got to just be a coincidence that these two states, which adjust their wages for inflation, have the highest minimum wages of any states in the country, right?