Rethinking the minimum wage:

The minimum wage today does not work. As a security net for those at the low end of the wage scale it does not adequetly address the needs of the working poor. The minimum wage should be flexable enought to provide the security of a liveing wage, and yet not have significant economic impact. I propose that the defination of part time work be defined as working no more than thirty hours a week. A minimum wage be set for those working the thirty hours a week. To answer those critics who say that its mainly teenagers who work part time, I respond by saying fine lets have a seperate minimum wage for those, for the sake of argument, younger than nineteen. To help those over the age of nineteen who work part time I further propose that if they work more than thirty hours a week then they ought to be paid the equivalent of part time over time, say a dollar and quarter more an hour. The very idea of part time needs to be thought of differently than as being merely temporary work. For some its a way of life. Work forty hours a week yet be paid part time wages.