This was originally posted on PoodleRose on August 26, 2013. Comments have not been migrated.
At the Teen Choice Awards, actor Ashton Kutcher recently said:
I believe that opportunity looks a lot like hard work. I’ve never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job. And every job I had was a steppingstone to my next job, and I never quit my job until I had my next job.
When Sarah Palin and other conservatives praised Kutcher for his remarks, Democrats such as Paul Begala rushed in to argue that hard work is a core tenant of liberalism:
It is liberals who honor, extoll and reward hard work. That’s why President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and virtually all Democrats support raising the minimum wage–to honor and reward those who choose work over welfare, and ensure an honest day’s work pays enough to feed a family.
On the surface, Kutcher and Begala might seem to be in agreement. But let’s look below the surface.
I do not know Kutcher’s work history, but if he viewed each job as a steppingstone to his next job, he implies that some jobs weren’t particularly pleasurable. They may not have paid well. But each job helped him develop skills that made him more valuable in the marketplace. Whether this is literally true of Kutcher, I don’t know. But it is certainly true of millions and millions of Americans.
Minimum wage jobs require minimal skills. There is a correlation between one’s skills and the wages one can command. An individual with entry level skills cannot reasonably expect to receive more than entry level wages. However, that entry level position can serve as a steppingstone. That job can help one develop the skills required to advance.
Begala and other supporters of the minimum wage want us to ignore this fact. They believe that merely because an individual chooses work over welfare, we should force employers to pay him a “living wage.” To Begala, no matter an individual’s skill set, he should earn enough to support his family, no matter the actual value of his skills.
Contrary to Begala’s claim, raising the minimum wage will not reward hard work. It will reward individuals who have not taken the effort to learn and develop more marketable skills. It will discourage individuals from doing what is truly hard work: learning new and more valuable skills.