The Voters Have Spoken. It’s Time to Raise the Minimum Wage.

While the recent election didn't go the way that I and many others had hoped, there is one result that I was particularly happy to see. Voters across the state, and in fact across the country, spoke loud and clear that it is time to raise the minimum wage.

Thirteen Wisconsin counties and municipalities put the question of whether Wisconsin’s minimum wage should be increased from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour before the voters, and in each case, the voters delivered a resounding, “YES!” Voters in Neenah, Menasha and Appleton in the Fox Valley, Wood and Portage Counties in central Wisconsin, and Douglas and Eau Claire Counties up north all overwhelmingly supported the referendum. Closer to home, the measures received 72% of the vote in the City of Racine and 63% in Kenosha County. Taken together, sixty-seven percent of Wisconsin voters who were asked supported raising the state minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. Nationally, voters in red states Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota all passed minimum wage increases into law.

It’s clear that voters in Wisconsin and nationwide agree that the minimum wage is much too low. A person working full-time at the current minimum of $7.25 per hour would earn just $15,080 per year, not enough to live on. Contrary to the statements of some opponents of a minimum wage increase, this issue doesn’t just affect teenagers. A recent report by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) found that 587,000 Wisconsin workers would be impacted by raising the minimum to $10.10 per hour; 57% of those are women and 87% are 20 years old or older. The report also found that 234,000 Wisconsin children would see family incomes rise as a result. Opponents also claim that minimum wage increases are “job killers”, when the truth is just the opposite. Thirteen states raised their minimum wages on January 1, 2014, and each experienced subsequent job growth equal to or stronger than states that did not. Dozens of studies over the last two decades have confirmed that minimum wage increases do not reduce employment levels. Nearly 600 economists, including seven Nobel prize winners, signed a letter expressing support for a minimum wage increase, stating that such increases are actually good for the economy; they lead to higher productivity and morale and lower turnover. They also reduce the strain on our overburdened social safety net programs. Finally, it’s just the right thing to do. No full-time workers should have to struggle to provide for their families. Raising the minimum wage is a positive step to aid working families and grow Wisconsin’s economy, making us all better off.