Colorado: $5.15. Georgia: $5.15. Idaho: $5.15. Indiana: $5.15. Iowa: $5.15.
Kansas: $2.65. Kentucky: $5.15. Missouri: $5.15. Montana: $5.15.
Nebraska: $5.15. New Hampshire: $5.15. North Dakota: $5.15. Ohio: $5.15.
Oklahoma: $5.15, and $2.00 for work not covered by the federal minimum wage.
South Carolina: $5.15. South Dakota: $5.15. Texas: $5.15. Utah: $5.15.
Virginia: $5.15. West Virginia: $5.15. Wyoming: $5.15. USA (Federal): $5.15
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The Minimum Wage:
Why it exists and what needs to be done.
| Corporate Welfare Corruption Economic Realities Economic Disaster Net job loss in America | ||
| Oregon Corporations The Minimum Wage War Profiteering: Let's talk about it | ||
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1. Why was a
minimum wage established?
"The
Fair Labor Standards Act
was passed by Congress on 25th June, 1938. The
main objective of the act was to eliminate
"labor conditions detrimental to the
maintenance of the minimum
standards of living necessary for health,
efficiency and well-being of workers."
There is no evidence of job loss from the last minimum wage increase.
The minimum wage, unlike Social Security and many tax code provisions, is not required by federal law to be adjusted for inflation every year. Thus, inflation eats away at its buying power every year that Congress does not raise it. In the more than eight years since Congress passed the last increase, the buying power of the minimum wage has eroded by 17% and is currently at its second-lowest value since 1955. As with much else, federal policy regarding the minimum wage has left the states holding the bag in recent years. Federal inaction has led 17 states and the District of Columbia to increase their state minimum wages above the federal rate. Oregon, Washington, and Florida have found longer-term solutions to this problem, adjusting their minimum wage annually to account for increases in the cost of living. Vermont will begin indexing for inflation in 2007. Washington was the first state to adopt indexing and has been able to maintain the value of its minimum wage after an initial wage increase (Figure A ). While the federal minimum wage has steadily declined in real terms since 1997, the Washington minimum wage has increased in value and stabilized—although it remains too low to assure even a full-time, year-round worker enough income to keep a family of three out of poverty.
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FACT CHECK: Raising The Minimum Wage Will Spur Job Growth In Illinois
On Nov. 16, the Illinois
State Senate approved a
$1 increase in the state
minimum wage, putting it
at
$7.50 an hour.
The proposal would go
into effect on July 1,
and would increase every
year to account for
inflation.
Conservative lawmakers objected to the measure, saying a minimum wage increase would come “at the expense of Illinois jobs” and put “our business climate in jeopardy with the surrounding states when we increase the cost of doing business.”
But a March 2006 report by the Fiscal Policy Institute found that increasing the minimum wage actually helps job growth:
[T]his report examined recent state-by-state trends for small businesses employing fewer than 50 workers and found that employment and payrolls in small businesses grew faster in the states with minimum wages above the federal level than in the remaining states where the $5.15 an hour federal minimum wage prevailed.
This report also found that total job growth was faster in the higher minimum wage states. Faster job growth also occurred in the retail trade sector, the sector of the economy employing the most workers at low wages, in the higher minimum wage states.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes, “Illinois’ minimum wage last was raised in 2003 to $6.50 an hour. At that level, a mother working full-time to support her child makes $13,520 a year, barely above the federal poverty line.”
It’s now up to the Illinois State House to bring the minimum wage legislation to the floor for a vote. An increase would mean a direct raise next year for 308,000 people in Illinois.
If you live in Illinois, call your State Representatives today and tell them to bring the minimum wage bill to the floor for a vote.
Senate
OK's minimum wage hike | Would make Mass. rate tops in
US A CONGRESSIONAL DOUBLE STANDARD ON PAYCHECKS
The Progress Report: Paying working folks a livable wage helps everyone, but it's been nine years --
and nine Congressional pay raises --since the minimum wage was last increased.
http://www.alternet.org/workplace/37935/ Tom Toles
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