One of the more contentious fights our government has had through the years is the one concerning a federally mandated minimum wage.
The desired wage being debated in Congress now is $15 per hour.
Republicans and Conservatives don't wish to guarantee anyone, other than themselves, any minimums and apparently could not care less if the needy just drop out of society and off the face of the Earth.
Democrats and Liberals feel that all workers should be paid a fair 'livable' wage commensurate with the cost of living.
But therein lies the rub.
The cost of living is quite a bit higher in California (CA) and Hawaii (HI) than it is in Mississippi (MS) or Arkansas (AR).
In fact, while MS is around 15% below the national average cost of living, HI is nearly double the rate.
A simple solution to fix this inequity could be to use a coefficient multiplier based on actual costs people incur in their particular State.
I used an insurance website to determine a fair estimate of the current costs a resident in each state would face. (You may click the above link to read their analysis.)
The website analyzed the following eight factors to gauge the COL:
- Miscellaneous goods & services
- Housing
- Groceries
- Transportation
- Utilities
- Health care
- Car Insurance
- Home insurance
MS is currently the State with the lowest cost of living at 15.22% below the national average.
If we wish all States to be on equal footing, then let's use $15 per hour as the pre-configured national average.
So if we multiply that $15 by the difference between the MS cost of living and the national average, we come up with a proposed minimum wage for Mississippians of $12.72 per hour.
Likewise for Hawaiians, who must contend with a cost of living that is 95.8% higher than the national average, their minimum wage would become $29.37 per hour!
People living in either of those two States would then have equal local buying power.
I suggest the minimum wage then be recalculated every 10 years around the same time as the U S Census so as to remain fair and relevant.
Based on the most recent figures for costs of living, the following list shows the fairest minimum wage for workers by State:
MS $ 12.72
AR $ 13.28
NM $ 13.33
OK $ 13.47
TN $ 13.58
MO $ 13.59
AL $ 13.60
IN $ 13.60
OH $ 13.65
KS $ 13.72
IA $ 13.74
NE $ 13.96
WY $ 13.97
KY $ 14.02
NC $ 14.03
IL $ 14.07
SC $ 14.12
ID $ 14.21
TX $ 14.27
UT $ 14.52
GA $ 14.53
MT $ 14.62
WI $ 14.63
ND $ 14.69
SD $ 14.76
LA $ 14.86
AZ $ 14.93
MI $ 15.07
WV $ 15.10
MN $ 15.46
FL $ 15.65
VA $ 15.73
PA $ 15.86
DE $ 16.06
NV $ 16.13
CO $ 16.38
NH $ 16.69
ME $ 17.09
NJ $ 17.10
VT $ 17.33
CT $ 17.87
RI $ 17.91
MD $ 18.15
WA $ 18.57
AK $ 18.61
MA $ 18.67
OR $ 19.71
CA $ 22.05
NY $ 22.88
DC $ 23.66
HI $ 29.37
If Congress would actually take a look at this, they might like it but tweak it in a way to lower the nationally desired average to say $14 instead of $15.
But whatever number they decide upon the method to calculate the differences between States would remain the same.
The same idea used to calculate a State's minimum wage could also be used to figure the cost of healthcare and the rate of unemployment insurance etc.
One main problem that will always loom in the background of this FAIR AND EQUITABLE list is the 'State's Rights vs Federal Mandates' argument.
The States will say, 'don't tell me how to run my business' or my State.
And even though this is the best idea yet, if I do say so myself, it will be ignored and never implemented!
Pity!
What do you think?
Let me know in the comments.
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