Framing the Minimum Wage Debate

Analysis:

This story frames the issue of the minimum wage by reinforcing the perception that minimum wage earners are primarily young people or people In entry level positions. The fact that 40% of the people earning the minimum wage are the sole breadwinner in their families is brushed aside at the beginning of the story as the reporter focuses exclusively on student workers. A spokesperson from Calvin college is interviewed on the impact that raising the wages paid to student workers will have on the school budget. While the school administrator notes that this increased cost may cause cuts to be made in other places, the costs of the new minimum wage are never put in relation to the total school budget. It is noted that the increase will cost the college $ 250,000. The total budget of Calvin College is approximately 83 million a year. That means this cost increase represents .3% of the total school budget.

Also worth pointing out is the misleading bar graph included in this story. By starting the vertical axis at $5 rather than 0, the graph gives the impression that the minimum wage increase is actually greater than it really is. Also problematic is that the values on the vertical axis go from 5 to 7 to 8, using the same distance to represent two different values.

Story:

WZZM 13 Newsreader – For the first time in nine years thousands of Michigan workers will get a raise. Today the governor signed a minimum wage increase into law. It’ll go from five dollars and fifteen cents an hour, to six dollars and ninety five cents an hour in October of this year. Then, in July of 2007, it will increase again to seven fifteen, and in July on 2008, it will go up to seven forty and hour. That’s a total increase of two dollars and twenty-five cents. WZZM 13’s Amy fox has more on what the change will mean for one segment of our society, colleges and universities.

Reporter – Juliet, according to the group Michigan Needs a Raise, forty percent of workers who earn minimum wage are the sole bread winners for their families, meaning most are not. But that doesn’t mean they can’t use the money.

Reporter – Luke Eising works at the cafeteria in Calvin College.

Luke Eising (college student) – A lot of times I do, it’s called beverage salad, I carry milks and stuff, uh, run line.

Reporter – He and his fellow student workers earn just more than the minimum wage.

Student worker – I earn 5.65 for now.

Reporter – They’re happy to know they’ll get a raise, 6.95 starting in October.

Luke Eising – Sounds pretty good to me, I won’t lie. I like the idea.

Reporter – Almost fifteen hundred Calvin students work on Campus, which means their raise will cost the school quite a bit.

Henry DeVries (Calvin Vice President of Finance) – The minimum case scenario for Calvin next year will be about two hundred and twenty five thousand dollars, and that would be if we simply raise anyone who’s below minimum wage to the minimum wage on the first of October. If we raise the entire wage scale by one point eight, a dollar eighty, then this could mean about a million and a half to about a million and three quarter dollars next year.

Reporter – Which could mean cuts in other areas. Calvin vice President Henry DeVries says the school still needs to decide just how much of a raise all students earning more than the minimum wage will get, he realizes the importance of helping students afford higher education.

Melanie Venema (student worker) – I use all this money as much as I can to pay my tuition and my rent and stuff here.

Reporter – So these student workers are thankful for the minimum wage raise.

Reporter – Governor Granholm will be in West Michigan tomorrow evening to attend a rally regarding the minimum wage at the Kent-Ionia labor council. She’ll also be live on WZZM 13 News at Six.

Total time: 2 minutes, 26 seconds