What is a job worth?

Jan Crockett thinks it's unfair that one person should make more money than another. She asks, "Are people who work in service industries less important to our society? Are working women and mothers who work in these jobs less valuable than an office worker?" She answers her own questions with a resounding, "NO."

Jan is comparing apples and oranges. The worth of a person is different from the worth of the job he performs. There are some garbage collectors who possess impeccable character and kind and helping hearts. There are some CEO's who aren't worth spitting on. Does that mean the garbage collector should be making as much money as the CEO?

I don't know what kind of job Jan has, but suppose she's one of those working women in one of those fast food joint jobs. And suppose she's managed to move from being a janitor who mops the floor to being a supervisor on a shift. Does she think the janitor should be making as much as she does? Does she think she should be making as much as the district manager?

Let's take it to another level. Do you want the orderly at the hospital to make as much as the RN giving you your meds and monitoring your heart machine?

Jan says that giving someone working 40 hours a week an extra $114 weekly gives them something that benefits all of us: buying power, etc. But does it? The business owner has to make that money up somewhere. He may do it by cutting the 40 hours down to 30 a week. Or he may do it by raising prices on his products. How does the worker or the rest of us benefit by that?  And why stop with only $114 a week? If that's good, surely we could mandate $250 extra a week and make it even better. Jan says raising the minimum wage creates a higher quality of living. I don't think so. I think it just makes the cost of living higher.

"Raise the minimum wage." The Dallas Morning News; March 13, 2014; p. 14A.