Jay Newton: Taxpayers will continue to subsidize wages until minimum wage is increased

To The Daily Sun,

We have two parties in our political system, Republicans and Democrats.

We need both.

Republicans focus on creating an environment friendly to business so we can get the services and goods that we need. Democrats help make sure that the people doing the work get a fair deal.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Democrat, said in 1938 as he fought to initiate the minimum wage, “It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level — I mean the wages of decent living.”

From 1938 to 1968, the minimum wage kept pace with U.S. workers’ productivity. Since then, it has not. If it had, the minimum wage would now be more than $24 an hour. In New Hampshire, it’s $7.25 an hour.

In 2021, a family with two working adults each making $15/hour and two kids cannot afford the basics in any state. These families are forced to seek help from the government and charitable organizations to survive. This means we as NH citizens subsidize employee wages at every private company which pays less than a living wage with our taxes and donations.

Let Gov. Chris Sununu, Republican, know that our minimum wage needs to be higher than $15/hour so NH businesses are compelled to pay their fair share and all NH citizens can live with dignity.

Jay Newton

Gilford