[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Articles\/Article\/ID\/173\/will-raising-the-minimum-wage-really-affect-food-stamps#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Articles\/Article\/ID\/173\/will-raising-the-minimum-wage-really-affect-food-stamps","headline":"Will Raising the Minimum Wage Really Affect Food Stamps?","name":"Will Raising the Minimum Wage Really Affect Food Stamps?","description":"The long debate of minimum wage and food stamps continues. Take a look at the facts surriounding minimum wage and the benefit program.","datePublished":"2018-07-06","dateModified":"2018-07-26","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/author\/admin#Person","name":"admin","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/author\/admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26111862ca029071a00a76fae48c51b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26111862ca029071a00a76fae48c51b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"FoodStamps.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","width":100,"height":100},"url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Articles\/Article\/ID\/173\/will-raising-the-minimum-wage-really-affect-food-stamps","about":["Food Stamp","SNAP Facts","SNAP legislation","SNAP News"],"wordCount":850,"keywords":["173"],"articleBody":"The debate over whether or not to raise minimum wage is at a fever pitch right now, with the naysayers predicting it\u2019ll lead to massive job losses and the supporters fighting back that it\u2019s long overdue. Somewhat lost in this melee is how it\u2019ll affect those on food stamps, with 1 in 7 Americans currently utilizing the SNAP program.Does the Minimum Wage Really Need to be Adjusted?Nothing ever\u00a0needs\u00a0to happen, but\u00a0minimum wage hasn\u2019t kept pace with inflation\u00a0in almost 50 years. In 1968, minimum wage was today\u2019s equivalent of $8.56 an hour\u2014the peak for the federal minimum wage.Since then, minimum wage has been on a steady decline, with the last increase coming five years ago in 2009. To make matters worse, inflation has outpaced minimum wage such that one hour\u2019s work at minimum wage is worth 5.8 percent less now than it was in 2009. This means that proportionally speaking, a minimum wage employee just can\u2019t buy as many things working the same number of hours that they used to.Each State Tells a Different StoryOut of the whole country,\u00a019 states and the District of Columbia\u00a0have set their own minimum wage at a higher level than the federal rate, along with cities and counties going even higher.The highest minimum wage in the country right now can be\u00a0found in San Francisco, where workers earn $10.74 an hour. In terms of states, though, Washington tops the list at $9.32 an hour for both regular and tipped workers.But the\u00a0lowest\u00a0minimum wage states\u00a0in the country are Georgia and Wyoming, where regular and tipped workers are paid a shameful $5.15 and $2.13 an hour, respectively\u2014barely enough to cover a gallon of gas.What This All MeansLet\u2019s take a look at the two highest and two lowest states in terms of minimum wage, and what their\u00a0illiteracy,\u00a0unemployment,\u00a0crime, and\u00a0education\u00a0(25+ with at least a bachelor\u2019s degree) rates are, as well as how many people in each of the four states are on food stamps.Washington Illiteracy:\u00a0A high of 34.3% in Franklin County and a low of 5.7% in San Juan County.Unemployment:\u00a06.4%Crime:\u00a0346 per 100,000 people (28th place)Education:\u00a030.3%, or 10th placeFood Stamps:\u00a015.5% Oregon ($9.10 an hour for both regular and tipped workers) Illiteracy:\u00a0A high of 20.3% in Morrow County and a low of 7.1% in Benton County.Unemployment:\u00a06.9%Crime:\u00a0280 per 100,000 people (38th place)Education:\u00a028.3%, or 18th placeFood Stamps:\u00a020% Georgia Illiteracy:\u00a0A high of 35.9% in Atkinson County and a low of 8.3% in Forsyth County.Unemployment:\u00a07.1% (tied for 40th place)Crime:\u00a0471 per 100,000 people (19th place)Education:\u00a027.1%, or 23rd placeFood Stamps:\u00a017.9% Wyoming Illiteracy:\u00a0A high of 11.5% in Carbon County and a low of 6.7% in Teton County.Unemployment:\u00a02.6%Crime:\u00a0240 per 100,000 people (43rd place)Education:\u00a023.4%, or 39th placeFood Stamps:\u00a06.6% As you can see, a low or high minimum wage in\u00a0one\u00a0doesn\u2019t necessarily equate positively or negatively to the respective measures of living, but something more interesting happens when the data is extrapolated into regions.For example, the Southwest (Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky, but not Florida) is\u00a0one big cluster of high food stamps users\u00a0(the lowest is Georgia), while living right in the middle of the country (Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska) has the least percentage of food stamps users in each state. Meanwhile, the\u00a0(il)literacy rates in those regions\u00a0equate fairly well with food stamps usage, with the lowest illiteracy rates clustered in the middle and north-midwest region, and the highest rates in the mid-south and southwest regions.Finally, the states in the south (Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina) where their minimum wage is either lower than the federal level or they have no minimum wage tend to be equated with higher illiteracy and food stamps use.This may be pure conjecture, but it seems as though there\u2019s a relationship between raising the minimum wage and having your citizens turn out better educated, more illiterate, and less likely to be on food stamps?"},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Articles\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Article","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Articles\/\/Article\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"ID","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Articles\/\/Article\/\/ID\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"173","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Articles\/\/Article\/\/ID\/\/173\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"name":"Will Raising the Minimum Wage Really Affect Food Stamps?","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Articles\/Article\/ID\/173\/will-raising-the-minimum-wage-really-affect-food-stamps#breadcrumbitem"}]}]