Posted on 02/01/2021 6:00:06 AM PST by Red Badger
Progressive lawmakers this week formally launched an effort to hike the US minimum wage, introducing legislation to gradually raise it from $7.25 to $15 an hour.
The proposed increase is much larger than those in the recent past, but supporters argue it is warranted because it has been more than a decade since the wage was lifted, and the current minimum wage is too little for life in the United States.
First enacted by Congress in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the wage has been amended several times, most recently in 2007, when Congress voted to lift it gradually from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour.
Since that time, several states and local governments have raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour or to other levels both higher and lower.
Of the 50 states, 21 currently honor the federal level of $7.25, while the remaining states have a higher minimum.
Twenty-five states currently prohibit cities and counties from setting a higher local wage than the state level, according to Resourceful Compliance, which tracks labor law.
Under legislation introduced by Democrats in the House and Senate, the minimum wage would rise to $9.50 an hour three months after the law is enacted, and then to $15 in four intervals over a five-year period.
The proposal also raises base pay for waiters and other employees who rely on tips, and directs the US labor secretary to annually calculate the median hourly wage of all employees.
In years where the median increases, the federal minimum wage would be raised by the same percentage.
Economists have long debated whether the economic lift from boosting workers' purchasing power more than offsets the added wage burden on businesses. There is no consensus on the matter.
"There has been a debate for years," said Gregory Daco, Oxford Economics' chief US economist, noting that some studies have shown it can cause job losses, while others have not.
Even the same study can be interpreted differently.
Critics of the higher wage point to a finding in a 2019 Congressional Budget Office report that said lifting the level to $15 an hour would result in 1.3 million workers losing their jobs.
But defenders of the measure noted that the same report said the proposal would lift 1.3 million people out of poverty and boost wages for as many as 27 million more workers, arguing these benefits more than counter the lost jobs.
There is no consensus regarding the effects, as shown in Seattle, which in 2014 became the first major US city to adopt a $15 minimum wage.
A 2018 study from the University of Washington said the policy reduced total payroll in low-income jobs, with wages rising by three percent but hours dropping by six to seven percent.
But a 2017 study by the University of California, Berkeley found the policy increased wages in the food services industry with no employment loss.
Howard Wright, the chief executive of the Seattle Hospitality Group and the co-author of the 2014 measure, said he largely discounts the conflicting appraisals of the Seattle policy.
"Our economy has been booming so strongly until Covid," said Wright.
Next the unions will demand raises because it’s not fair .
#jobkillerjoe
I’m sure it’s a great article but the dopes that need to read it, won’t.
It needs to be raised. The min wage I made in 1978 is 14.59 an hour today. 1/2 the country is making 12-15 an hour today and those wages need to come up.we are now a nation of have and have nots and it will not survive as such
They won’t have to demand anything. It’s already part of their contracts, if the minimum wage increases, their members’ wages automatically increase by that same amount across the board..................
Raising the minimum wage does nothing to help anybody. All prices will increase to absorb the wage increase, so you are right back to where you started.
I worked for 50 cents and hour minimum wage in 1971.
A Burger King Whopper was 59 cents. Gasoline was 30 cents /gal. Milk was 49 cents a gal. Cigarettes were a quarter a pack....................
Lots of folks will get fired.
The next time some stupid person tells you the minimum wage is a good thing, then suggest: "If increases in the minimum wage are a good thing, let's make it a great thing and increase it to $2000/hour!" Even the stupidest liberal might get the message.
Raised by whom?
When government does it, because government can not dictate productivity increases to mitigate the harm done by the wage increases, low skill, entry level jobs disappear.
How in Hades is that good for your have-nots?
Does the minimum wage apply to Mescins? Asking for a friend who wants to purchase a couple.
Supply and demand sets prices in a just world.
Price fixing is never good.
purchase a couple?
For $15/hr you can get the whole family...................
Unemployment rolls increase. Much like the green new deal irradiating oil and fossil fuels used to generate green energy. Idiocy abounds
Minimum wage is a topic that should be engaged upon at the state level only. If it goes to $15 an hour nationally....a guy working at Pizza Hut in Dothan, Alabama will make a killing on his regular pay/lifestyle. A guy in Boston or SF making $15 will still marginally get by (with escalation of rent very likely following the pay scale increase).
Most burger enterprises will automate to some degree and dump 50-percent of their jobs within three years. If you wanted a minimum wage job....it’ll be harder to find those.
Fast Food and such used to be the exclusive domain of teenagers. It was when I was a teen in the early 70’s.
Now, all you see in the FF joints is middle aged and elderly workers................
Should have set it to raise with inflation and left it.
B) FICA and other payroll taxes goes up.
C) The competition for jobs clearing land mines in W. Virginia goes up.
They won’t have to. Their wage is tied to the minimum wage. The minimum wage goes up, their wage goes up. Now you know why Democrats want to raise it.
...and kiosks.
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