Warren Buffett Said 'Anybody Who's Willing To Work 40 Hours A Week' Deserves A Decent Life — But Proposes A Minimum 'Income', Not Minimum Wage

It's 2025, and the federal minimum wage in the U.S. is still stuck at $7.25 an hour—exactly where it's been since 2009. While some states have raised it on their own, millions of Americans are still struggling to make ends meet despite working full-time jobs.

Back in 2016, right after Donald Trump won the presidency for the first time, Warren Buffett sat down for an interview with CNN to discuss income inequality, wages, and what should be done to ensure full-time workers aren't living in poverty. Nearly a decade later, his words still hit hard.

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In a Super Rich Country, 40 Hours Should Be Enough

Buffett, one of the world's richest men, has long argued that a full-time job should provide financial stability. He put it bluntly in that interview:

"We have to make sure that in a super rich country, anybody who's willing to work 40 hours a week has a decent living."

That's a simple idea. If you put in the hours, you should be able to afford rent, groceries, and a reasonable quality of life. But the reality in 2025? The gap between the ultra-wealthy and everyday workers is still enormous. People are still working multiple jobs just to survive, and Buffett's words are just as relevant as they were back then.

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Why Not Just Raise the Minimum Wage?

Buffett has been asked for years whether the solution is to raise the minimum wage. His answer? It's complicated.

"It's the hardest question I've been asked because I don't know the answer," he admitted in 2016.

He supports higher wages but worries about unintended consequences.

"If you tell me I've got to run a business that pays $15 an hour in many industries, I'm going to employ fewer people than before," Buffett explained. "I don't want to employ fewer people; I just want that person to make $15 an hour."

It's a classic economic debate: higher wages mean better pay for workers, but could also lead to fewer jobs if businesses cut costs by hiring less.

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Buffett's Solution: A Minimum Income, Not a Minimum Wage

Instead of pushing for a higher minimum wage, Buffett champions the earned income tax credit –government program that supplements low wages with tax credits.

"You don't need a minimum wage. You need a minimum income," he said.

His idea is simple: keep wages as they are but use the tax system to boost take-home pay. The earned income tax credit could ensure that even those in low-wage jobs effectively earn $15 an hour without forcing businesses to cut jobs.

"The earned income tax credit can give everyone $15 an hour even if their market skills don't command it," Buffett explained. "You don't lose any employment, and you make it graduated so there's still an incentive to move up."

The way Buffett sees it, the government has enough money to make this work:

"If we've got an $18 trillion GDP, we can allocate enough so that anybody who works productively at 40 hours a week can have a decent life," he said. 

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Did Anyone Listen?

Since Buffett's 2016 interview, some states have raised their minimum wages to $15 or more, but at the federal level, nothing has changed. The earned income tax credit has been adjusted slightly over the years, but not in any significant way.

In states where the minimum wage has increased, results have been mixed. Some businesses have cut jobs or raised prices, while others have absorbed the costs and seen increased productivity. Meanwhile, in places where wages have stayed low, the struggle continues.

Buffett has continued pushing for an expanded earned income tax credit, but Congress has yet to take meaningful action. He argues that the government knows how to fix the problem—they just haven't done it.

"We need to address the problem not of how to get more eggs—we know how to do that—but how to make sure that in a super rich country, anybody who's willing to work 40 hours a week has a decent living," he said. 

Nine years after Buffett's interview, the debate over wages and income inequality rages on. The federal minimum wage remains frozen, and while some states have taken action, there's no universal fix. Buffett's push for a stronger earned income tax credit is still an idea sitting on the shelf, waiting for lawmakers to act.

So the question remains: will 2025 be the year politicians finally listen? Or will we be having this same conversation in another decade?

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