John Edwards for President-Ex-Senator stumps to boost wage of workers; Edwards: Poverty can be reduced

Ex-Senator stumps to boost wage of workers; Edwards: Poverty can be reduced

Jun 29, 2005 9:28 PM

Matt Hanson
Arizona Republic
Jun 29, 2005

Former vice presidential candidate John Edwards told a crowd of more than 300 Valley supporters on Tuesday that raising the minimum wage in states around the country would help lift people out of poverty.

"It's part of a bigger issue: What are we going to do about the 36 million Americans who wake up in poverty every day?" Edwards said.

But the former senator might find it hard to persuade Arizonans to raise the minimum wage.

In the Grand Canyon state, minimum-wage policy is tied up in debates over undocumented workers. In addition, a conservative mind-set opposed to raising the minimum dominates the political sphere and voters' views.

And industry representatives and some economists believe raising the wage floor puts more people out of work.

Edwards is on a three-day tour with Maude Hurd, president of ACORN, a community group that has led efforts to raise the minimum wage throughout the country. Tuesday's stop was hosted by the Arizona Minimum Wage Coalition at the Church of the Beatitudes, 555 W. Glendale Ave.

Edwards called lifting Americans out of poverty "one of the great moral dilemmas of our time."

Two million Americans work for $5.15 per hour, the federally mandated minimum wage, and 43,000 people in Arizona work for the minimum or less, he said.

In Arizona, employers follow the federal minimum wage because the state has not set a minimum itself.

Economists and industry representatives in Arizona said that raising the wage is not the solution to ending poverty.

Mandating a minimum wage closer to $7 might make it too expensive for employers to keep all the workers they now employ, said Dawn McLaren, research economist at Arizona State University's Bank One Economic Outlook Center.

"The general theory behind the minimum wage is that if you place the minimum wage above the clearing price in the market, you're going to put people out of work," McLaren said. "At some point it's not worth paying someone to sweep the floors."

This tendency is further complicated in Arizona because it borders Mexico, where many workers earn less than $5.15 per hour and come looking for work in the United States. With more expensive domestic labor, employers might turn to undocumented workers.

"You create a limit on the number of legal laborers, but they still need to sweep the floors," McLaren said.

Edwards agreed that raising the minimum wage in Arizona is tied to immigration reform.

"These are problems that are certainly connected," he said, and added that there should better ways for immigrants to become U.S. citizens.

In the restaurant industry, which employs many of its workers at minimum wage, there can be many negative side effects of an increase, said Steve Chucri, president of the Arizona Restaurant and Hospitality Association.

"We want to take very good care of our employees and accommodate their home needs," he said. "But it's not a one-size-fits-all situation."

But even a small pay raise could go a long way for workers trying to pay bills with minimum wage paychecks, said Mitzi Pearce, co-chairwoman of ACORN's Mesa chapter.

"If you make minimum wage, you can buy food, you can pay rent and if you have a car - God bless you - you might be able to buy gas," Pearce said. "But you're not going to be able to afford health insurance."