Frozen at $7.25 an hour since 2009, the minimum wage is more accurately described as a starvation wage. Once the purview of teenage and part-time workers, it now is the primary income for an increasing number of full-time adult workers navigating a floundering economy in which the rich get richer and the poor get the shaft.

As 2021 begins, efforts are underway in both DC and OKC to transform the “minimum” wage into a “living” wage. In Oklahoma, Sen. George Young has introduced legislation to hike the minimum wage to $10.50 an hour. In Washington, new President Joe Biden has made a $15 minimum wage a centerpiece of his first 100 days.

In Observercast 2.3: A Living Wage For Oklahoma, Sen. Young joins us to discuss Senate Bill 161 and other proposals aimed at improving the plight of our state’s working poor.

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