Poverty is big business and a bunch of folks make millions from/because of it. Of course, I didn’t just figure this out– I said it in a lecture 30 years ago. My students and I then painfully discussed exorbitant rents, subpar housing, wages, food deserts that led to limited choices and chronic diseases—the list was longer than the lecture.
What has prompted today’s conversation is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday and its “day on not a day off” philosophy that emphasizes helping neighbors and an intentional focus on the dignity of work and our role all year.
First, the dignity of work brings to mind the people with “Hungry, will work for food” signs at too many intersections, immigrant and exploited workers “taking jobs,” and friends who work two or three jobs but can’t afford an insured vehicle, a decent home, or to shop where they work.
When I started formally working in 1973, I was 18 and earned about $1 a day chopping cotton so at $1.60 an hour, I felt rich, but I had no rent, no gas or food to buy, and no family to support. Today, the minimum wage is less than $10 an hour and a 40-hour-a week job won’t/can’t support rent, insurance, car, and food—thus, the “working poor” and poverty.
Further, the jobs that most immigrants “took” were often the most dangerous, strenuous, dirtiest ones that nobody else wanted or would do. A Latina community organizer at one of the King Day rallies shared that oftentimes Hispanic workers are crime victims but can’t complain if they are robbed or don’t get paid by unscrupulous employers.
They are not the enemy. Hunting and rounding these hard-working individuals up and shuttling them to unknown places is inhumane, cruel, and downright unamerican. I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again—we must have a fair and equitable immigration policy now or we lose whatever moral high ground we claim to be standing on.
But back to today’s topic: the minimum/living wage and dignity in work. There has been no cost-of-living adjustment with this federal guideline like with Social Security. When the conversation comes up, we hear raising the minimum wage hurts small businesses, stifles growth, and causes layoffs, but here’s what I know: when I have more to spend, I spend more. Almost everyone does– we go out to eat, get our hair and nails done, and buy that dress/suit instead of simply admiring it. When workers earn decent wages, everybody wins.
There is pride and dignity in work, both paid and unpaid, formal and informal, but creating and determining a living wage is a controversial topic with no easy answers. How you feel about this subject depends on where you live, whether you support organized labor, workers’ rights, or making your own way, but understand this: the minimum wage versus a living wage affects us all.
In this upcoming election cycle, I pray we advocate for a living wage, jobs with benefits, and adequate child and elder care so 30 years from now poverty won’t still be a topic for conversation.
