On Aug. 29, thousands of fast-food workers staged one-day strikes in 50 cities across the United States to protest minimum wage salaries. The workers demanded a $15.00 per hour wage, which is more than double the federal hourly wage of $7.25.

In today’s tough economic times when many are forced to rely on minimum wage jobs, fast- food corporations should pay their workers a higher hourly rate. Unfortunately, the strikers’ demand for an hourly wage of $15 is too high.

To start a successful bargaining process, the debate should begin at a lower wage.

The federal minimum wage has not been increased since 2009, and some states still do not have any minimum wage laws whatsoever.

President Obama has proposed raising the minimum wage to $9 per hour by 2015. This is a much more reasonable proposal and a good starting point for discussion.

To engage in a debate about a minimum wage increase, one has to consider the macroeconomic situation in America today.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate is currently at 7.3 percent. The income gap is widening, and a tiny percentage of people control an increasingly large percentage of the wealth. Finding a job without a college degree is nearly impossible and for many, affording a college degree is even harder. Collectively, these factors make it hard to move out of lower income brackets.

Fast-food salaries are admittedly more in line with entry-level or part-time jobs. But according to BusinessWeek, 3.9 million Americans take jobs in the industry to pay the bills and make a living wage. However, it is impossible to live on $7.25 an hour.

A small increase in the minimum wage, such as the $9 figure Obama proposed, would still be small enough to incentivize workers to get out of a minimum wage status. That is, it wouldn’t be high enough that people give up any effort to move out of their socioeconomic bracket, but it would make it easier for people stuck in that bracket to survive, without imposing too heavy a burden on employers.

Before taxes, an employee who works 250 full-time days per week at minimum wage makes $18,125 per year. That figure is below the poverty line for a family of three. At $9 per hour, the same worker would make $4,375 more each year.

Higher wages may also take some pressure off taxpayer-funded programs such as welfare and food stamps.

Corporations are raking in record profits. They can afford to pay their workers more. It is sad that the government has to intervene in order to force corporations to fairly compensate their employees.

In July, 99 economists signed a petition to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.50. The economists say the increase would be about 2.7 percent of fast-food corporations’ sales. They also say the cost could be offset by, among other things, reducing pay for executives.

Using figures taken from Forbes magazine, McDonald’s CEO James Skinner and David Novak, CEO of Yum Brands, which owns Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut and WingStreet make an average of $25.69 million each year. If these two CEOs worked 250 days each year, they would earn $1712.67 per hour. That figure is 236 times the federal minimum wage.

The gap between the lowest and highest paid employees should not be so large. If companies are worried about profit margins, there are internal means to maintain current margins. Cutting advertising and marketing budgets, lowering executive salaries and finding ways to increase productivity are all attainable.

It is not illegal that corporations are making record profits when their employees are living in near-poverty, but it is certainly wrong.

Michael Hacker is a senior political science major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at mahacker@syr.edu and followed on Twitter at @mikeincuse.

Published on September 12, 2013 at 1:09 am