There is a debate again in our society about the treatment of people in poverty. Income inequality plagues our nation. According to Pew Research Center 2012 report, the top 1% of earners take home nearly 22% of all pre-tax income. The bottom 90% of earners bring home just 49% of all income. That high concentration of wealth at the top brings with it a lot of power to assert in the maintenance of their status. The debate continues with concerns about redistribution of wealth. One of the hot topics right now around income in America is over the minimum wage. Federally set in 2009 at $7.25 an hour, it fails to provide a suffiicient living wage for millions of Americans. Democrats, including the President, have called for an increase in the minimum wage to as much as $10.10 an hour. 21 states have already increased minimum wage in the past year.
There is an indignity that comes from working full time for a pay check that does not pay enough to feed one's family, pay for adequate housing, and provide for basic health care and transportation costs. It has to do with the human determination to provide adequately and sustainably for ones self and one's immediate family. In America, some people are denied this dignity, often because of circumstances beyond their control.
Generational poverty and lack of real opportunity keep people below potential. And it begins with children. The bible and our own national history calls us to do better than this.
"You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns. You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihoods depends on them;otherwise they might cry to the Lord against you and you would incur guilt." Deuteronomy 24:14. I'm not someone who uses a highlighter in my bible. I don't underline the parts I like and ignore the parts I don't like. I think the bible has some things to say to us about how believers in God treat people. There is a relatively consistent and clear picture that emerges when one considers one sub category of people vis a vis the bible: the poor. Ethical, compassionate, just treatment of the poor is a significant biblical theme from beginning to end. Those with wealth and means have a responsibility toward the poor in their midst, to assure their well being. In the passage I selectively posted above, directed toward employers, workers have a right to be paid for their work in a way that assures them a livelihood. Both timing and amount fall into the category of livelihood. It must be sufficient for the needs of the day.
I live in a county that is mixed with urban, rural, and suburban populations. There is extreme wealth and poverty in Lancaster county. This is a county where the working poor struggle. 21% of Lancaster county workers make minimum wage or less. 1 in 5 Lancaster County workers would benefit from a minimum wage increase and they would contribute more to the local economy as a result. People who work full time deserve the dignity of a living wage. It's been 5 years since federal minimum wage was increased. According to an MIT study, a living wage calculation for a family of four living in Lancaster county is $17.31/hour. A single parent household with 3 children must earn the most:$28.84/hour. According to Lancaster city data, 44% of poor households worked full or part-time. 69% of poor households are single-mother households. 1/3 of the poor are children in Lancaster.
The cry of the business community is that increasing minimum wage will force layoffs and other cuts. They are threatening to unemploy low income workers, rather than pay them a sufficient wage.
If someone is willing to work a low skill, low pay job to earn a living, they ought to receive a respectable wage. Raising the wage will increase tax revenue and provide additional spending into local economies, where earners spend their money. The wealthy will not be penalized by a minimum wage increase, but rather stand to gain greater wealth. Wealth is created at the bottom and trickles up, not down.
What would a biblical call for justice for the poor sound like today? I think it would begin with an invitation to repent from the injustice of income inequality and insist that employers pay their workers living wages. Six weeks of job training is not going to assure that my family has adequate food and housing today. And the indignity of life below poverty for those who cannot work is another topic altogether. Employment is not the only solution to poverty. Compassion and sacrifice is the way up and the way out. The walls between the wealthy and the poor must be demolished. Empathy must be established. And resources must be shared effectively and fairly.
I am a Lutheran Pastor. I am called to announce good news to the poor. I cannot offer hope without a fight for justice. I know too many children who are uncertain about their next meal or their next home. Not in Honduras or Haiti, but right here.
