GOP Blocks Increase in Minimum Wage
The Washington Post carries a story today about the Republican Party’s spiking of an effort to increase the minimum wage
The minimum wage was last increased in 1997 under a two-step process approved by Congress in 1996.
In a speech to the Senate, Kennedy said that minimum wage employees working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, earn $10,700 a year, or $4,500 below the poverty line for a family of three. The value of the increase that Congress approved seven years ago has eroded to the point that their wages are worth less now than they were before the last increase, he added.
During those seven years, members of Congress have raised their own pay by $21,000, Kennedy said.
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July 16th, 2003 at 8:13 pm
If the minimum wage is such a good way of reducing poverty, why don’t we just increase it to $20/hour?
According to activists who support it, the increases do not cause job loses and they improve the standards of living of the poor. In their minds, how can there be any limit to the prosperity that we can legislate?
July 18th, 2003 at 1:41 pm
John, I don’t think anyone who supports raising the minimum wage believes you can raise it to the levels you are talking about. Go check out the website Raise the Floor for some good insight from supporters of a minimum wage hike. As that site points out:
The minimum wage has been at $5.15 an hour since 1997, leaving workers with nearly 40 percent less than their counterparts earned in 1968, adjusting for inflation. It would take $8.45 to match the 1968 minimum wage in 2003 dollars.
Why not just index the rate to inflation?
July 19th, 2003 at 7:53 pm
Indexing the minimum wage to inflation is the worst idea of all. I have an extended post on the problems it would cause.