Letter: Minimum wage never meant to be sustainable

Reporter Mitchell Schmidt's article on April 6 'In Iowa, the cost of living outpaces wages” extensively reviews a study by the Iowa Policy Project (IPP). Schmidt cites a variety of data from the report, basically stating that the current minimum wage in Iowa ($7.25) is inadequate ' ... to reach a basic standard of living.” No doubt. But what the IPP consistently fails to point out in their repeated studies of wages is that the minimum wage was never designed to be a sustainable wage.

The minimum wage is an introductory wage, designed principally for work inexperienced teens and young adults who are just entering the workforce and for part-time workers. The most recent data available (2014) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics makes this point. Nationwide, only 3 million workers make minimum wage or less. Of these, half are younger than 25 years old. Thirty percent don't have a high school diploma. Only 2 percent of full-time workers make at or below minimum wage.

Finally, another fact that the IPP omits is that half of American families in poverty have no workers (University of California, Irvine).

Rich Zeis

Walker