COVID-19: A Change Agent for Minimum Wage in Election Year?

(17 July 2020)  COVID-19 has clarified for many the dependence of our daily lives on the hourly wage earners within our societies, a fact that speaks to the campaign platform of former US vice president and presidential candidate Joe Biden. A federal minimum wage of $15 per hour, according to Biden, is critical for the basic protection and standard of living of millions of US workers who delivery food, provide care to the young and the elderly, support agricultural, hotel, entertainment, and so may other industries.

• The current US federal minimum wage is $7.25—about $15,000 a year for a full-time worker, which could qualify the worker for government assistance programs—however, as shown below, the minimum wage in the United States varies by state.
• The US minimum wage was implemented in 1938 as the US was trying to pull itself out of the Great Depression. The question now is how viable is a wage hike to pull the US out of the COVID-19 economic contraction when so many retailers, hotel and restaurant, and other industries are careening toward bankruptcy under the burden of the coronavirus outbreak? 
• Back in July 2019, the US Congressional Budget Office examined the potential impact on jobs if $10, $12, and $15 minimum wage options were to be implemented. Among its findings, the CBO stated that under a $15 minimum wage, 27.3 million workers would see a likely boost in wages while upwards of 3.7 million workers could become jobless as a result of the change.