The Fallacy of Minimum Wage

To The Editor:

Every job has an economic value. It doesn’t matter what it is. Roger Miller, in his song King of the Road said, “Trailer for sale or rent, room to let 50 cents.” That establishes how much it costs to rent a room. Miller goes on to say, “Two hours of pushing broom buys an 8 by 10, 4-bit room.” Now, because 4 bit = 50 cents we know that the hourly wage for pushing a broom is 2 bits (25 cents) an hour. That’s not much of a wage for an hour’s work. So, let’s increase the broom pusher’s wage to 4 bits per hour. Unless the broom pusher can do two hours of work in one hour, the cost of the 8x10, 4bit room, now costs 8 bits. The cost of the room is two hours of pushing a broom regardless of the broom pusher’s wage unless the broom pusher becomes more efficient.