Writer: Erin Ruprecht
Editor: Karly Schmitz
April 11, 2023
Imagine working every day, paycheck to paycheck, only to be told by the government that you are losing your pay. You were not getting 'handouts,' and you were not 'being lazy,' yet the government expects you to survive without a salary. This situation happened to many working-class members during the 2018-2019 federal government shutdown before Covid-19. Without their everyday wages, the government left our public-sector workers with no income to survive. However, even more devastating, they could hardly afford the bare minimum when they had a salary.
In January 2019, I was taking driver's education. When the instructor told us to bring in a $200 deposit, a girl in my class did not have a check. She explained that due to the government shutdown, her single mom struggled to pay for her autistic sister's needs and the deposit. Her inability to pay was because her mom's school put her on unpaid leave as an elementary school nurse. As a 15-year-old, privileged, white, and upper-middle-class member of society, almost embarrassingly, this encounter was one of my first realizations of the impact of our government's actions—directly hurting our working class and cascading the effects to our future generations.
The government shutdown and global pandemic show how society and the government often forget our working class and pay them unfairly. A wage increase will go a long way to improve outcomes across a broad spectrum for workers historically mistreated by the government and society economically.
Therefore, I argue for an 8.7% wage increase for federal workers, giving employees an across-the-board pay raise. A wage increase will improve productivity, strengthen our public sector, and enhance the lives of employees and families nationwide. According to Randy Erwin, president of the National Federation of Federal Employees, "It is a minimum increase needed to offset the dwindling checking accounts of public servants, and it is critical to recruiting and retaining the best possible workforce." Congressman Connolly has been fighting for years to introduce the FAIR Act, which proposes an 8.7% wage increase. He notes how the impacts of government shutdowns, pay and hiring freezes, lost income, and a global pandemic have tirelessly deprived the working class (Connolly, Schatz, 2023).
Our public-sector workers are perpetually servicing the American people. My question: Why isn't the government servicing them? Federal and state governments cut funding for programs benefiting young workers and families. College tuition has risen. Students are in debt. Higher education funding has decreased by 16% per student. However, Trump's tax cut increased the national debt, benefiting only older, more affluent households (Leonhardt, 2019). What about the people who are most in need?
When our current workforce is being taken advantage of, the children of these employees pay the price. These jarring statistics have dangerous consequences for children of low-income public-sector workers. Therefore, these consequences will affect our entire future workforce. David Leonhardt argues that the lack of dynamism negatively affects millennials and Gen-Z as they struggle to find good-paying careers, denying them access to affordable homes or investment in the stock market (2019). An alarming statistic noted by Leonhardt points out that "34-35 year-olds were earning less money in 2017 than the same age group in 2000." Even more alarming are these numbers adjusted to inflation.
In the long run, increased wages will provide income to lower socioeconomic families. Income is significant to low-income youth because they are more likely to face barriers such as single-parent households, dropping out of school, and experiencing health problems—these barriers further the cycle of low-income sector workers for generations to come.
According to a new survey from Oxfam America by Shawn Freemstad, "...more than 4 in 10 children who begin their life at the bottom of the income distribution stay at the bottom in adulthood." Both political parties agree that the United States is well behind other established Western European countries in upward social mobility, proving that something has to be done.
Social mobility is essential when we look at the adverse effects of low-income households. Low wages are proven to create healthcare barriers, make childcare unaffordable, and increase family instability.
The proposed wage increase would minimize several burdens imprisoning low-income workers. First, the increase would reduce the gender pay gap, cutting single mothers' poverty by half—leading to more economically stable families. Second, the increase would lower the income percentage dedicated to child care, providing families with extra funds to spend elsewhere. Lastly, the negative implications of poor health, such as obesity and illness, would improve. Furthermore, low-income workers would have more opportunities for employment and income growth (Yarrow, 2015).
An 8.7% pay increase for public sector workers will give our communities more attentive parents, stable incomes, considerable savings, and a better-equipped work environment for future generations. No child should sit in their driver-education class questioning whether they can make a payment. Support the wage increase so no parent has to worry about their next paycheck. Ensure no child has to question their future. It is only FAIR.
References
Building back better means raising wages for public-sector workers. Economic Policy
Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2023, from https://www.epi.org/blog/building-back-better-means-raising-wages-for-public-sector-wo rkers/
How can public sector employers keep pace with wage increases in 2022? State and Local
HR Government Consulting. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2023, from https://www.cpshr.us/resources/how-can-public-sector-employers-keep-pace-with-wage-i ncreases-in-2022
Leonhardt, D. (2019, January 27). The fleecing of millennials. The New York Times. Retrieved
March 28, 2023, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/27/opinion/buttigieg-2020-millennials.html
Low-income workers and their employers - urban institute. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2023,
from https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/46656/411532-Low-Income-Worker s-and-Their-Employers.PDF
Maciag, M. (2022, February 7). Government wage growth lags private sector by largest
margin on record. The Pew Charitable Trusts. Retrieved March 28, 2023, from https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2022/02/07/government-wag e-growth-lags-private-sector-by-largest-margin-on-record.
Yarrow, A., Elliot, D., Dixon, R., Adetola, A., Tall, F., & Staff, C. H. N. (2018, July 20). How low
wages hurt families and perpetuate poverty. Coalition on Human Needs. Retrieved March 28, 2023, from https://www.chn.org/voices/how-low-wages-hurt-families-and-perpetuate-poverty/.
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