Iowa should approve a living wage

By Ryan Bobst

Todd Dorman's column resumes Tuesday.

The recent collapse of the economy has produced several solutions for big businesses and very few for working Iowans.

Take the Troubled Asset Relief Program's (TARP) $700 billion bailout of businesses nationwide struggling to compete with the financial crisis. True, there has been assistance in the form of tax credits (i.e., first-time homebuyer) but there are many restrictions and exclusions that leave few eligible individuals. In addition, many of the work supports in place eventually have “cliff effects” - as families increase their income, they lose eligibility for these benefits disproportionately to their rise in income. For example, a single mother working full-time with two children who gets a raise from $11.50 per hour to $12 per hour would lose approximately $4,000-$6,000 in annual child care assistance because she is no longer eligible, while being able to replace only $1,040 of that with her small increase in wages.

Many working Iowans still struggle to make ends meet - pay for basic needs. A 2008 report from the Iowa Policy Project research organization found that the income necessary for a two-child family with two working parents is $13.77 per hour per parent. The report also found that over half of all full-time jobs in Iowa pay less than this wage.

I propose the state adopt a living wage that would be adjusted to inflation and the cost of living depending on the area in which one lives. Families in Iowa are among the nation's hardest working in terms of hours logged. It's time we get paid a suitable wage for our work.

Some argue that enforcing a living wage would be detrimental to the economy and force jobs to move out of the state. This is unfounded, as more than 120 cities across the country have enacted living wage laws as of 2005. Recent studies by the national Economic Policy Institute found that these living wage laws have had little to no negative impacts for budgets in these cities. For example, in Los Angeles, a living wage standard produced less than a one percent cut in the work force.

A living wage law would entice a highly qualified, young work force to stay in the state. In addition, if families make more money, they have to pay more in taxes, which means revenue for the state of Iowa. And if families have more money, they will spend more, which means revenue for Iowa businesses.

Tell your state representatives that Iowans are ready for the family bailout - the living wage, the solution to Iowa's economic crisis.

Ryan Bobst is a graduate student at the School of Social Work, University of Iowa.