SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
December 28, 2017
Sullivan’s
Salvos 1/2/18
In this edition:
*Welcome 2018!
*Average Billionaires?
*Soft Skills
*Minimum Wage Report
*Did You Know?
*Welcome 2018!
I
am excited for 2018! Like most of the people I know, 2017 will go down in my
memory mostly for bad things. (Of course, I don’t know many billionaires. I’m
sure most of them had a great year!)
Anyway,
here is to a fresh start in 2018! I hope things go well for you and yours!
*Average Billionaires?
Speaking
of billionaires… I am a social worker, not a math teacher. But in light of the
dreadful Tax Bill recently passed by the Republicans in Congress, we need a
primer on the concept of averages.
An average is: “the result obtained by adding
together several quantities and then dividing this total by the number of
quantities.” So if you add 10, 20, and 30, you get 60. Divided by three numbers
in the set, you get 20. 20 is the average. Averages are great unless you have
extremes in the set.
For example: Bill
Gates and I have an average wealth of $40 billion. Hank Aaron and I hit an
average of 378 Major League homeruns. The Beatles and I have an average of 9 #1
hits. In these examples, the AVERAGE does not provide us relevant information.
I am seeing the same
thing with the tax bill. Some Republican Members of Congress are claiming that
the average household would get a tax cut of $1,610 in 2018. But extremes are
included in averages. A household earning $1 million or more would get an
average tax cut of $69,660. Compare that with the tax cut of $870 for an
average household earning $50,000 to $75,000.
A much better
measure in this case would be MEDIAN. In other words, the point in the set
where 50% of the numbers are higher, and 50% of the numbers are lower. That
gives us a much better lens through which we can view the tax cut.
Is
this tax cut good for the AVERAGE person? No. Not at all. It isn’t good for the
median, either!
*Soft Skills
I speak to lots of people who are involved in
workforce development issues. A topic that keeps coming up is the idea of “soft
skills” – in other words, customer service skills. They always bring this up. I
think it is worth noting that “workforce development” didn’t even exist until
the 70s. Why is that? I would argue it is because big employers used to spend
the time and money necessary to train their employees. Now they expect the
government to do it for them.
Don’t kid yourself – these issues are related!
Young workers do not learn soft skills because their parents have been
underemployed for decades. Our current state of affairs is a side effect of
businesses that not only no longer care for employees, but now actively try to
hurt them.
If you pay less than $15/hour, you cannot complain
about employees lacking “soft skills”. Soft skills are gained when parents have
time to spend with their kids rather than working two jobs. Soft skills are
gained when parents can afford books for their children. Soft skills are gained
when parents can afford fruits and vegetables for their kids, along with the
time to cook them. Soft skills are gained
when parents can afford health insurance and are less sick. Soft skills are
gained when parents can afford quality childcare. Soft skills are gained
when parents send their kids to good schools. Soft skills are gained when
parents have access to necessary social services.
Do
employees lack soft skills now as compared to the 50s and 60s? Probably so. But
let’s be very clear as to the reason!
*Minimum Wage Report Available
The
Minimum Wage Advisory Committee presented the findings of the report, “Jobs and
wages in Johnson County before and after the minimum wage increase,” on
Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017 at the Johnson County Board of Supervisors’ Informal
Meeting.
Committee
members Peter Fisher, an economist with the Iowa Policy Project, and John Solow
a University of Iowa economics professor, presented the report. The Committee
found that the minimum wage increase did not appear to hurt businesses, which
was a suggested possible negative consequence. Additionally, the wage increase
benefited low-wage workers, who saw a larger increase in their average weekly
earnings.
“Increasing
the minimum wage to $10.10 had a positive impact on more than 10,000 workers
without negatively affecting businesses,” Rod Sullivan, Supervisor and liaison
to the committee, said. “We hope the Iowa Legislature will see these results
and act to give Iowans a long overdue raise.”
The
State of Iowa’s minimum wage was increased to $7.25 per hour in 2008, ahead of
the Federal increase to $7.25 in 2009, but has remained at $7.25 and is not
indexed for inflation. On Sept. 10, 2015, the Johnson County Board of
Supervisors passed an ordinance establishing a Johnson County minimum wage.
According to that ordinance, the minimum wage in Johnson County was raised in
three steps – to $8.20 per hour on Nov. 1, 2015, to $9.15 per hour on May 1,
2016, and to $10.10 per hour on Jan. 1, 2017.
After
June 30, 2018, the Johnson County minimum wage was to be indexed for inflation
based on changes in the Consumer Price Index. On March 30, 2017, Governor Terry
Branstad signed legislation eliminating the ability of jurisdictions within the
State of Iowa to set a minimum wage above the State minimum wage. Johnson
County had a higher minimum wage than the State for 17 months, incuding three
months when it was $10.10 per hour.
The
Board of Supervisors will consult the Consumer Price Index and make a
recommendation, based on inflation, on a raise to the $10.10 minimum wage in February
or March.
The
Committee was composed of members of the public and residents of Johnson
County, including representatives from the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce
and Iowa City Area Development Group, local non-profits, small business owners,
low-wage workers and union workers. Current members of the committee are Jesse
Case (chair), Dromi Etsey, Fisher, Ryan Sempf, Solow (vice-chair), Rod Sullivan
(ex officio), Becci Reedus, and DaLayne Williamson. Former members of the
commission are David Dickey, Rebecca Neades, Carlos Walker and Katie Wilson.
The
full report and more information about the minimum wage in Johnson County are
available at http://www.johnson-county.com/dept_supervisors.aspx?id=18549.
*DID YOU KNOW?
The three most common surnames in Iowa are Smith, Williams, and
Anderson.
Anyone
interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the
County website-
"Sullivan’s
Salvos" is sent once per week to any interested party. It will give a
brief update on issues of interest to Johnson County residents.
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come solely from Rod Sullivan, and neither represents the viewpoints of the
whole Board of Supervisors nor those of groups or individuals otherwise
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As always,
feel free to contact me at 354-7199 or rodsullivan@mchsi.com. I look forward to
serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 3:39 PM
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