I am proud to announce that millions of Americans will receive a much-needed pay raise today.
Almost four and a half million workers in 31 states will see a bigger paycheck when the federal minimum wage increases from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour. This is the final of three increases to be implemented under a law enacted by the Democratic Congress in 2007.
This law provided the first minimum wage increase in a decade for our lowest-paid workers and their families. The buying power of the minimum wage had fallen to a 51-year low, and families were struggling with rising housing costs, unpredictable energy bills, and skyrocketing health care premiums.
We have seen where the low road of low wages and rising inequality leads -- to an unbalanced, unhealthy, and unsustainable economy.
Today's pay raise comes as even more Americans are struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families.
• Three-quarters of those who will benefit from this wage increase are 20 years old or older.
• More than half are families with yearly incomes of less than $35,000.
• Over sixty percent of them are women, and over 400,000 of them are single parents with kids under 18. And over two million children will benefit from this boost in their parents' wages.
The average minimum wage worker brings home the lion-share of their family's earnings. In fact, about half of all minimum wage workers work full time and another third work between 20 and 34 hours per week. In the wealthiest country in the world, it is an outrage that anyone who works full-time still winds up in poverty.
Unlike tax cuts for the wealthy, a higher minimum wage increases consumer spending on local businesses, which is good for everyone. In fact, a recent study by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago found that every dollar increase in the minimum wage leads to an $800 increase in spending per quarter by families with minimum wage workers.
The Economic Policy Institute estimated that this increased purchasing power will boost consumer spending by more than $5.5 billion over the next 12 months. This increase will provide millions of families with about $120 in extra monthly income to help pay their grocery bills or fill up their cars.
Especially in this economy, Congress will continue to look at solutions that will help all Americans build a better life for themselves and their families.
(Cross-posted at the EdLabor Journal.)
Follow Rep. George Miller on Twitter: www.twitter.com/askgeorge
Just the Democrats turning you into victims because they need victims to get elected. These victims believe that only government can help them out of their problems that they cannot do it themselves.
So get real and think about the total multiplier effect not just the cost side of of the equation.
Good work. Go pat yourself on the back, while the rest of us face reality.
We also have to have some legislative help in retaining family wage jobs and restrictions on the ratio of employees at the bottom of a company's pay ladder and those at the top. Also, all benefits available to executives should be made available to every employee. Wehn CEO's collect bonuses even when a company loses money, they become parasites.
This minimum wage is a joke and keeps people in perpetual poverty. Minimum wage should be $10 at the very least. I'd like to see our fat cats in congress live on $7.25 per hour and only get paid when they work. No pay when they're out campaigning because they're not doing the people's work.
BTW I manage a small business, and we are going through extremely tough times, but we wouldn't dream of paying anyone, even the most inexperienced employee less than $10 per hour. You just cannot live on less.
Why is it the employers fault that the employee (in your example) chose to have a wife and two kids when they only earn min wage? Why is the employees housing situation a problem for the employer? Why is the employee buying chicken for dinner since it costs so much of their income? Why is the employee using such luxuries as a telephone and vehicle since it causes such a burden on the family? Why is the employee staying in an apt of their own when they could move in with family or friends and reduce the rent bill?
Life isn't always easy but then no one promised you a rose garden.
And it seems like you may not realize this, but alot of people have lost their jobs in the last year, and when there are job postings, thousands apply for 1 job. But only 1 can get it, Therefore, that leaves still alot of people unemployed. Many people who were working for a decent wage and providing for their families have been left in dire straits by layoffs.
Your arguments are irrational and unreasonable and it seems you are bereft of any compassion or morality. If you had no friends with room to take you in and no family around, what then?
Could you live on $250 per week and feed your family and living expenses?
And you can get away with it because you hire illegal aliens, who in turn drive down wages for whole segments of industry, especially in construction.
We need to start putting more employers in jail for aiding and abetting an invasion of America and the destruction of the middle class.
I think the minimum wage should be fifteen bucks an hour. We'd all have to pay a little more for stuff when businesses passed the cost on to us, but there would be more jobs created as the result of greater demand for more stuff, and all of those new job holders would have to be paid at least $15 an hour. That leads to more spending and more jobs and a growing economy.
A decent minimum wage could help lead us out of this economic mess.
"Poor people don't know how to save money."
"Wait, that means if we give them money, they're guaranteed to spend all of it! That's good for the economy, right?"
"Of course, consumerism has never steered us wrong before!"
Let's say there was an employee earning $6.55/hr and was producing at $7.00/hr making a profit for the employer of $0.45/hr for every hour worked. With your assistance in this companies business now that employee must be paid a minimum of $7.25/hr but while the wage must be increased that workers productivity has remained unchanged from yesterday meaning that for every hour this employee works the business loses $0.25/hr.
My question is: why would this company want to continue employing this person when the company loses money by having that employee at work?
Incidentally since you're a Marine according to your picture and SN since your salary and benefits are c/o the Federal government would that mean you are working in a socialist system?
They don't.
A raise of the minimum wage means that the costs of goods and services goes up.
So while "We raised the minimum wage!" makes it look like our benevolent representatives have done some work, they have- in fact- accomplished nothing.