The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set the federal minimum wage for non-farm workers at 25 cents an hour. Sixty-six years later, the hourly minimum wage is $5.15, although some states and cities supersede that amount: Maine has set its minimum hourly wage at $6.25; by local ordinance, full-time, permanent City of San Antonio employees earn a minimum of $8.50, which still is often inadequate to cover rent for a two-bedroom apartment.
As the wage has failed to keep up with inflation, people earning the minimum amount have less purchasing power. The wage of $5.15 represents 58 percent of the poverty level; in the late 1960s, when it was about $1.60, it equaled 90 percent of the poverty level.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has proposed increasing the minimum wage 36 percent to $7 by 2007. According to his June 2004 campaign statement, in Texas alone, 558,000 women workers — the primary beneficiaries of a hike in the minimum wage — would benefit from the increase. For more data on the minimum wage, go to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov).
At $5.15 an hour, you would have to work the following number of hours to pay for these items:
Groceries • 12 minutes: eight lemons • 15 minutes: three pounds of dried pinto beans • 45 minutes: two boxes of Lucky Charms cereal • 54 minutes: 64 ounces of Tropicana orange juice • 1 hour: two 8-ounce packs of H-E-B cheese • 1.03 hours: eight ears of sweet corn • 1.9 hours: five 12-packs of Big Red (12 ounces) • 2 hours: one box of Surf powdered detergent (120 loads)
Clothing • 4 hours: pair of children’s jeans • 4 hours: one school uniform • 5.8 hours: pair of kids’ Keds tennis shoes
School supplies • 10 minutes: one box of crayons (24 count) • 30 minutes: one pack of pencils (72 count) • 1.1 hours: four, one-subject notebooks • 4 hours: kids’ backpack
Medical • 1 hour: five days’ supply of Claritin • 5.8 hours: one month’s worth of birth control pills at Planned Parenthood (sliding scale also available) • 48 hours: 50mg Vioxx, 100 count (Canada) • 84 hours: 50mg Vioxx, 100 count (U.S.)
Utilities • 5.8 hours: 1 month basic phone service (not counting long distance) • 19.3 hours: 1 month standard cable package plus Internet service from Time-Warner • 27.8 hours: an average summer monthly City Public Service bill
Transportation • 4 hours: a monthly VIA bus pass • 1,940 hours: a Chevy Aveo • 3,883 hours: 2004 Honda Civic EX • 22,817 hours: 2004 H1 Hummer wagon
Entertainment • 1.1 hours: a matinee movie ticket • 3.5 hours for a new CD • 9.4 hours: a pavilion seat to see Lynyrd Skynrd at the Verizon Amphitheater • 3.7 hours: a lawn seat for the same show
