Labor Stats Reveal Gaps
August 28, 2024
Labor Stats Reveal Gaps
By Senator Jeff Smith
We all know that Wisconsin’s minimum wage is stuck in the last century. I mean, who can actually afford to live on $7.25 an hour? That’s $1,160 a month at 40 hours a week, which is hardly enough to pay for groceries, let alone rent. According to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, an actual living wage in Wisconsin for a single adult without children is $20.22.
The last time we saw a bump in the Wisconsin minimum wage was in 2007. In the next year, the federal government increased the minimum wage again by only another 75 cents, outpacing Wisconsin’s increase the year before. That was 16 years ago folks, and counting.
For over 30 years I ran the window cleaning business my father started after he got back from World War II, so I know a thing or two about hard work. Most of all, I learned that paying people a fair wage is more about showing respect for the people who give their time to make your business run. People deserve a living wage, and our state is woefully behind the trend.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average hourly wage in Wisconsin is $22.18 an hour, but one in five Wisconsinites still work for less than $12 an hour. Clearly, our minimum wage is not a viable living wage. Employers are willing to pay more to attract workers, but keeping our minimum wage in step with a living wage provides a backstop for workers and a reality facing Wisconsin employers.
Perhaps the answer has something to do with the makeup of our legislature. Perhaps Republicans in the majority do not support labor in Wisconsin as much as they let on.
How about new laws for workers’ rights to organize a union and address safety concerns in the workplace? According to AFL-CIO’s Death on the Job report, workplace hazards killed or disabled more than 100,000 workers nationwide in 2019. Of those work-related incidents, 5,333 died while on the job. Last year alone, 62 workers died on the job in Wisconsin. Shouldn’t more be done to make work safer for everyone?
Last week I had the opportunity to address the AFL-CIO’s annual conference, and I was proud to celebrate my 100% voting record on pro-labor bills during the last legislative session. Our Democratic Senate Caucus has an excellent voting record overall because we recognize and appreciate every time we get the chance to vote for workers’ rights and improve the conditions for workers from all walks of life.
Even though it was over 13 years ago now, it feels like yesterday when I joined the thousands of concerned citizens at the Capitol to protest the signing of Act 10 into law. At the same time, Republicans enshrined their gerrymandered map locking in a majority in both the Assembly and Senate ever since. Is it any wonder, then, why we haven’t raised our living wage in Wisconsin?
As we take some much-needed time off this coming Labor Day, I hope you will consider finding a brief moment of gratitude in your busy weekend for all of the great labor accomplishments and workers in our state. They fought to create this holiday and make the 40-hour work week a reality. I know I will.
And as soon as our next legislative session starts back up in January, I look forward to making sure others join me in a 100% voting record on behalf of the workers in our state.