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Iowa FORUM | 10/19/2016
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We've Left Workers Behind For Too Long

By Minor Sinclair

The candidates have spilled millions of words this election season. How many address your concerns? How many speak to the heart of the fact that our economy, and our country, have left millions of low-wage workers behind? Rather than advancing, they're watching their wages stagnate and decline, and their shot at the American Dream fade as inequality widens the gap between "toilers" and the captains of industry.

Consider something as simple as the federal minimum wage. It's been eight years since Congress last raised the wage, to a paltry $7.25 an hour ($290 a week). In those years, prices have steadily climbed upward, leaving more and more people working hard but falling behind. That Congress refuses to raise the wage after all this time clearly illustrates just how much our elected officials have abandoned the interests of some of their hardest working constituents, along with the health of the broader economy.

Shocking new research from Oxfam America and the Economic Policy Institute reveals the scale of the problem, and lays out an agenda for change. Across the country, nearly half the workforce is stuck in jobs that pay under $15 an hour and offer threadbare benefits. In Iowa, the numbers are even more shocking: almost half the workforce earns under $15 an hour, a total of 630,214. And it gets worse: 52.3 percent of working women, 59.8 percent of Hispanic workers, and 69.5 percent of African American workers earn under $15 an hour in this state. Many of these workers are the breadwinners for households with kids, supporting almost half of young children across our state.

And it's not just wages: too many have too few benefits. In Iowa, nearly half the private sector workforce does not have access to even a single day of paid sick time. This puts them in peril if they (or their children) fall ill. If they can't go to work, they miss vital income; after a few days, it may start a downward spiral of racking up debt, or falling behind on rent or mortgage.

It is well past time for elected officials to champion common sense reforms to give the working poor a raise. Let's look for some policies that would make a real difference.

First, raise the federal minimum wage to boost incomes for millions of workers and their families. Today, a minimum wage worker at full time brings in about $1,200 a month, or $15,080 a year. No one can thrive on that, let alone support a family.

Second, provide access to earned sick leave. Over 80 percent of low-wage workers in the private sector currently lack any paid sick days.

Third, protect the recent expansion of overtime pay. In May, the Obama administration extended overtime pay protection to 124,000 Iowa workers, which enables many workers to receive time and a half for hours worked over 40 per week.

Finally, expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). The credit subsidizes low wage working families, often lifting them out of poverty; however, it does not benefit workers without children or under age 25. One proposal to expand the EITC could have a positive impact on 122,000 people across Iowa.

Let's be real about what fuels the engine of our economy. Higher wages enable workers to spend more on life's essentials: this helps businesses, reduces the need for government spending on things like food stamps, and makes our economy stronger and our society safer.

Voters are hungry for change, and an economy that works better for all, and this agenda would have positive impacts across the whole economy. Recent polls in Iowa indicate that a substantial majority of voters support raising the minimum wage.

Millions are still toiling, and doing the vital work that keeps our economy humming. It's time to shine a light on those workers and that engine, and take real steps to help them, and all of us, advance in every way.

Sinclair is the director of Oxfam America's program in the U.S.

 
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