By Jeff Imig
Arizona Daily Wildcat
October 29, 1997

A 'Yes' vote will reduce poverty, up buying power

Arizona Daily Wildcat Jeff Imig

Prop 202 - the Tucson Livable Wage - would raise the minimum wage to $7 an hour in Tucson and add a cost-of-living adjustment annually. A Yes vote will reduce poverty, increase buying power and send a clear message to the rich and powerful that we will not allow them to enrich themselves while we suffer.

It is unconscionable that in our community, anyone should go hungry, struggle to clothe their kids or struggle to pay the rent.

All independent studies on the effects of the minimum wage prove that it helps poor and working people. The Economic Policy Institute's The Sky Hasn't Fallen found that 71.2 percent of the benefits from the 1996 minimum wage increase went to the poorest 60 percent of families, and women and people of color were found to have benefited most.

In Tucson, according the United States Census data, women make up 43.5 percent of the work force yet are 53.5 percent of minimum wage workers and Chicano/as consist of 28.9 percent of the work force, but 37.2 percent of the lowest wage earners. A Yes vote will send a strong message against racism and sexism.

Raising the minimum wage increases buying power and leaves employment constant.

The extensively documented study, Myth and Measurement, looked at low-wage jobs in New Jersey when the state had the nation's highest minimum wage.

No increase in unemployment was found in the year after the increase.

Similarly, after Massachusetts increased its minimum wage above the federal level, unemployment dropped from 5.2 percent to 4.2 percent.

Studies have also discovered that any increase in prices is always more than offset by the increased buying power.

It is, after all, the increased prices that have partially led us to the situation we have today.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the minimum wage would be $7.40 an hour if it had been adjusted for inflation.

The federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour is too low.

The devaluation and artificial lowering of wages has largely taken place since the mid-1970s when real wages fell 13 percent despite a 30 percent increase in productivity.

Check out the facts.

The opposition is driven by greed and profit. Give yourself and Tucson a raise. Vote yes on 202 Nov. 4.

Jeff Imig is a media technician at the University of Arizona.