During the State of the Union address last Tuesday night, President Barack Obama said he would implement a wage increase to $10.10 for federal contract workers via executive order.

This demand by Obama was a clear statement in support of raising the minimum wage on a broader scale to include private workers. This issue is of increasing prominence in Congress. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, among others, has supported the Fair Wage Act of 2013, which would increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

Partly because of unreasonably low minimum wage nationally, the income gap has increased. This gap diminishes the possibility of achieving the American dream.

As stated by Obama, no full-time workers should be impoverished. Unfortunately, with our low minimum wage, this is the case. Full-time minimum wage workers earn around $15,000, which falls below the federal poverty line.

The face of the minimum wage worker is not the uneducated, unmotivated worker. It is the single mother struggling to support her children. It is the high school graduate trying to help support his family. These minimum wage earners are also disproportionately female, more than half are under 25 and three-quarters have at least a high school education.

The Republican Party portrays a minimum wage increase as charitable giving for lazy, incompetent Americans. In reality, it is quite the opposite. Increasing the minimum wage not only helps hardworking Americans support themselves and their families, but it also makes the American dream more achievable again.

The core values of rewarding hard work and class mobility are no longer present in our society, despite their origins in the ideals of our founding fathers. The Republicans argue that by raising the minimum wage, unemployment will rise and small businesses will struggle to retain all of their employees. This perspective fails to consider the economic advantages of increasing the minimum wage. It also does not acknowledge the cruelty of impoverishing full-time American workers.

According to a Jan. 28 article in The Dallas Morning News, the minimum wage value peaked in the 1960s and has not been adjusted for inflation since. This outdated policy disadvantages our economy and our working class citizens.

The income inequality in the United States is not only inconsistent with American values, but it puts us at a significant economic disadvantage. Low wage earners tend to spend a majority of what they earn, which means, by increasing the minimum wage, more money is spent in our economy.

In addition to the clear advantages, the support for raising the minimum wage is extensive. According to a Jan. 28 article in the Christian Science Monitor, a majority of Americans support raising the minimum wage. This policy is not only supported by average citizens. A 2013 Gallup poll found that 47 percent of small-business owners support raising the minimum wage.

Based on these statistics, raising the minimum wage is clearly in the interest of the American people.

In the face of limited class mobility, increasing the federal minimum wage would restore faith in the American dream and the government.

Rachel Potter is a junior political science and sociology major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at [email protected]. 

Published on February 3, 2014 at 2:39 am