Once again the discussion of minimum wage is coming to the forefront of political discussion. There is a lot of vocal support for a $15 an hour minimum wage. I think that is a few dollars more per hour than necessary for a national minimum wage.

A minimum wage should be able to provide the wage earner with a basic living wage. The national poverty level for a family of four is in the neighborhood of $24,000 a year. A person working full-time, 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year will work 2,000 hours a year. Using these numbers, $12 an hour is a reasonable minimum wage – nationally.

Now, within some urban areas (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) the effective poverty level for a family of four is much greater than national level and it would be very appropriate to tie the minimum wage to HUD’s Extremely Low Income for a family of four for an area, or to the national poverty level for a family of four, whichever is greater. Such that, in San Francisco, the ELI for a family of 4 is $44,000 so a minimum wage for that area should be $22 an hour. In Seattle, the ELI is $32,100, which would lead to a $16.50 per hour minimum wage. In the Bronx, the ELI is $31,300, which will lead to a $15.65 per hour minimum wage.

We have the facts and figures derived from the various government departments that track this data, such as the Census Bureau, HUD, Social Security, the Fed, HHS, etc. Let’s use this data responsibly and keep on top of the growing economy and the wage gap. And the numbers can change every year as the economy grows and we don’t strand people at an old wage for many years while the politicians pontificate.