In his op-ed “One Big Beautiful Bill a gamechanger for Western Pa.” (July 5, TribLive), U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly stated, “tax cuts were a boost for families who have been crushed by years of inflation.” Yet, if you widen the lens a little, the average inflation rate over the past 25 years has been about 2.53%, not far from the Federal Reserve’s recommended 2% target.
However, when examining wages, a different story emerges. Since 1979, wages for the top 1% have increased by 138% while wages for the bottom 90% have risen only 15%. For the majority of us, families have been hurt more by years of wage stagnation than inflation.
Multiple factors contribute to wage stagnation. One factor is government policies that favor corporate interests, such as deregulation, weak enforcement of labor laws, tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, limiting access to social safety net programs, non-compete clauses and a minimum wage that does not keep pace with inflation.
Our minimum wage has stayed at $7.25 for 16 years. Kelly has consistently voted against raising it. Increasing the minimum wage tends to have a ripple effect on other workers. Brookings reports that a minimum wage hike could boost the pay of up to 29.4% of our workforce.
Let’s vote for government officials who will fight to raise the minimum wage and support the interests of working Americans.
