Nick Hanauer: Pay a Living Wage
on Friday, January 8, 2016Nick Hanauer Money Quotation saying paying employees better means they won’t need public assistance programs to relieve poverty. Nick Hanauer said:
“When businesses pay workers a living wage, taxpayers are relieved of the burden of funding the poverty programs like food stamps and medical assistance and rent assistance that those workers need” — Nick Hanauer
In this quote, Nick Hanauer is arguing that when businesses pay their workers a living wage, it reduces the financial burden on taxpayers who fund various government assistance programs.
Hanauer is saying that if low-wage workers received higher wages from their employers, they would be less reliant on poverty programs like food stamps, Medicaid, rent subsidies and other forms of public assistance that taxpayers fund through their taxes.
Therefore, when the business community pays workers enough to meet basic living expenses, it effectively shifts some of the social costs of poverty from the taxpayer onto businesses themselves through higher wages.
This interpretation suggests Hanauer believes living wages paid by employers can help decrease government spending on anti-poverty programs over the long run.