December 03, 2025

How to End Low Wage Work—Forever

1 hour 18 minutes

How do you solve a problem like the disconnect between “wages employers are willing to pay” and “wages employees need to survive”? If you’re my guest this week, the answer is: a wage subsidy.

Today on the show, I speak with Ben Glasner, an economist with a PhD in public policy and management in search of answers for how to build a fairer economy, about the benefit proposal that he says has two very critical things most proposals of this nature lack: efficient targeting and bipartisan support. We discuss:

The significance of the fact that 21 million Americans earn less than $16 per hour, and two-thirds of those workers are women

Why other attempts at incentivizing job creation are expensive ($100,000–$200,000 per job) and poorly targeted

The target wage and proposed funding structure that Ben and his coauthor believe will minimize or eliminate fraud and make small business hiring more competitive

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Transcripts, show notes, resources, and credits at: https://moneywithkatie.com/the_mwk_show/end-low-wage-work-forever/.

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Money with Katie’s mission is to be the intersection where the economic, cultural, and political meet the tactical, practical, personal finance education everyone needs.

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