We traveled a bit last week driving from Illinois through Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida and Alabama. What did we see along the way? Help wanted signs. Traveling, as one would suspect, most of the places we stopped were gas stations, restaurants and hotels. Places traditionally staffed by low wage workers. I spoke to a few of the managerial folks when the opportunity arose. The problem was so severe they were not even getting applicants. It isn’t as simple as the pandemic, increased unemployment payments and stimulus checks. Tybee Island comes to mind since we had lived there. Housing for folks working in gift shops and restaurants is simply unaffordable. The house we owned was turned into an Air B&B and now rents for $325 per night. That translates to $9,750 for a 30 day month. If it was rented on a month basis with a year lease the rent would be about $2,500. I suspect unless you had several workers living together with rent, utilities, water and cable TV it would be out of reach. The other problem is the commute out from Savannah. Depending on time of day the 10 mile or so trip can take well over an hour each way. Not something you want to face after a day of serving rude and demanding tourists. Tybee is the exception. Labor and housing have long been a problem on the island. Elsewhere the problem is the low value placed on these worker’s labor. Many of them, perhaps for the first time in years, are getting enough income to meet their needs without endless worry. They are paid poverty wages when they work. They live payday to payday hoping the car doesn’t break down, the kids don’t get sick and no emergencies destroy the family budget. Now many people think they should return to work for the same or less money than unemployment and stimulus checks provide. The problem isn’t the money they are getting now. It is the fact that their labor is not appropriately compensated. No one should have to work 2 or 3 jobs to earn a living. The minimum wage must be raised to a living wage. It must be indexed to inflation so like Social Security when prices go up so does income. I know there will be those who say it will put some small businesses out of business. My response? If you can’t afford to pay a living wage you can’t afford to have a business. Isn’t capitalism about the strong businesses surviving based on their value in the market? As a final thought- we have seen the ongoing failure of trickle down economics. If we pay more at the bottom to these workers I’m sure it will still trickle up to the bloated coffers of the wealthy. At least the poor will have touched it and seen some benefit.
Fascinating.
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