The State of the Union and the Minimum Wage

By TERESA TRITCH

In his State of the Union speech on tonight, President Obama is expected to again call on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage. His case is unassailable. The minimum was last updated eight years ago, when lawmakers passed a plan to raise it in steps to $7.25 in 2009. That level was too low even back then. And with each passing year, its inadequacy becomes more apparent. The economic underclass is growing, the economy is becoming more unequal and taxpayers are being forced to subsidize low-wage employers by providing public aid to underpaid workers.

And yet, Mr. Obama has consistently undercut his own strong case for a higher minimum by championing increases that are themselves too paltry. When he ran for president in 2008, he called for a raise to $9.50 an hour by 2011, but that idea was shelved in the rocky economy of his first term. When he revived his push for a higher minimum in 2013, he called for $9 an hour by the end of 2015, inexplicably watering down his original proposal. Later that year, he adopted as his own a proposal by congressional Democrats for $10.10 an hour phased in over two years.

That would be better than no raise, which is what most Republicans want. But it does not reestablish a firm wage floor. The minimum wage would be between $11 an hour and $18 an hour today if it had merely kept pace with average wages or productivity growth over the past several decades.

A call for $10.10 an hour at some future date is behind the times in other ways, as well. Six states, Washington, D.C., and several citiesalready have or soon will have minimums at or above $10 an hour. The federal minimum is supposed to raise the standard for the nation, not merely ratify standards that have already been established. Similarly, widespread public support for a higher minimum and activism among low-wage workers for $15 an hourhave expanded the realm of the possible. It would be politically tone deaf for Mr. Obama to stick with “$10.10 a few years from now” when an informed public wants and deserves more.

A minimum wage that is too low would also undercut the president’s new agenda to rebuild the middle class. When the lowest-paid workers earn more, workers modestly above the lowest ranks also tend to get raises. Such boosts can put the middle class within reach, especially for the many married couples in which one or both spouses is currently at or near the minimum wage. For those reasons, Mr. Obama should abandon the $10.10 benchmark in favor of a bolder goal that is in keeping with economic and political realities — and with his promises to restore the middle class.