I have been conflicted on the issue of raising the minimum wage for some time. We typically associate at or near minimum wage jobs with the restaurant and hospitality industries.

On the one hand, I have real empathy for folks who work these jobs. I can’t imagine trying to support myself or family with such jobs. All forms of work should be valued and respected.

On the other hand, I wonder why these folks don’t just learn a new skill so they can have a higher paying job and leave the low-wage jobs for the teenagers. We have a lot of taxpayer-supported education institutions and workforce development organizations.

Perhaps these folks have barriers to taking advantage of these education opportunities. Barriers that they simply can’t overcome. Perhaps they just enjoy their current work and don’t want to change.

Still another concern is that a minimum wage increase could cause widespread inflation that would impact everyone like businesses and consumers, including those people who directly benefited from an increased minimum wage. There might be a domino effect into other occupations that already pay well above minimum wage.

For example, according to the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an Oklahoma phlebotomist (a health care worker skilled at drawing blood) earns $15.10 per hour on average.

Would the wages of the phlebotomist need to increase to keep a financial incentive for a person to learn this skill if the minimum wage was raised? If so, inflation would not be confined to the restaurant and hospitality industries.

I wanted to find out. That data comes from May 2020, so I went and looked at the May 2016 information.

I noticed that from 2016 to 2020 our friends in Arkansas raised their minimum wage from $8 per hour to $10 per hour. Oklahoma’s minimum wage remained the same at $7.25 per hour.

I sampled 10 occupations that I thought already paid well above current minimum wages to see the changes, in percentage, for these types of jobs from 2016 to 2020 for each state.

I looked at jobs of phlebotomist, construction laborer, receptionist, surgical technologist, machinist, metal fabricator, truck driver, paralegal, carpenter and groundskeeper.

Somewhat surprising was that the largest percentage change per occupation was evenly split. Arkansas had five occupations that increased more, but so did Oklahoma. Also interesting was that Oklahoma had the higher wage in 9 out of 10 occupations.

The domino effect did not reveal itself in this small sampling of data. What it revealed was that Oklahoma businesses value skills, education and work ethic. Free market forces are at work.

I believe we could gradually raise our state’s minimum wage to $10 or $11 per hour without much widespread inflation. This raise would benefit those hard-working folks who have barriers to further education and skills that simply can’t be overcome.

I am willing to pay a bit more for my favorite restaurant meal and support those workers. A gradual increase would give businesses time to adjust with productivity improvements and possible price changes.

The pandemic policy induced inflation is an example of what can happen if wages and supply chains change abruptly. Therefore, a gradual increase in the minimum wage is needed.

The current proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour would be too much for Oklahoma. There would be a high probability of the domino effect in Oklahoma if that were to happen. Let’s leave the minimum wage decisions to the states.

We have many complex issues confronting our community. Let’s find solutions using a blend of proficiency, empathy, open mindedness, personal responsibility and objective data.

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