R_P_A_S
31st July 2007, 19:37
Full article can be found here http://www.americanprogressaction.org/progressreport/
ECONOMY
Pay Raise For America
Today is a good day for 13 million Americans. It's the first time in a decade that the federal minimum wage has risen, jumping 70 cents to $5.85 an hour. The minimum wage will continue to increase each summer until 2009, when "all minimum-wage jobs will pay no less than $7.25 an hour." This raise is long overdue. The conservative 109th Congress, aided by President Bush, repeatedly blocked any increase in the minimum wage. Under the previous minimum wage, a full-time worker making $5.15 an hour earned $10,712 a year; the federal poverty line is $17,170. "It has been a long time," said Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA). "We have heard those that say, well, with the increase in the minimum wages, this will cost jobs. It will bring hardship upon these people. That's what they have said on every increase. This is the 11th increase in the minimum wage and they have been wrong every other time."
MORE MONEY FOR NECESSITIES: Of the 13 million Americans who will benefit from this minimum wage increase, more than 60 percent are women and almost 40 percent are people of color. As Kennedy notes, workers making the minimum wage will "almost immediately earn an additional $1,500 to help support their families. When the full increase takes effect in 2009, these workers will see a total increase of $4,400 per year." This amount could pay for more than two years of health care, 15 months of groceries, or 30 months of college tuition at a public, two-year college. According to an analysis by the Center for American Progress, "Before today, minimum-wage earners working to buy hamburger dinners their families would've had to work nearly four more hours per week today than they did in 1997 to buy the same meal. After the increase, they'll be able to work an hour and a half less to feed their families."
ECONOMY
Pay Raise For America
Today is a good day for 13 million Americans. It's the first time in a decade that the federal minimum wage has risen, jumping 70 cents to $5.85 an hour. The minimum wage will continue to increase each summer until 2009, when "all minimum-wage jobs will pay no less than $7.25 an hour." This raise is long overdue. The conservative 109th Congress, aided by President Bush, repeatedly blocked any increase in the minimum wage. Under the previous minimum wage, a full-time worker making $5.15 an hour earned $10,712 a year; the federal poverty line is $17,170. "It has been a long time," said Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA). "We have heard those that say, well, with the increase in the minimum wages, this will cost jobs. It will bring hardship upon these people. That's what they have said on every increase. This is the 11th increase in the minimum wage and they have been wrong every other time."
MORE MONEY FOR NECESSITIES: Of the 13 million Americans who will benefit from this minimum wage increase, more than 60 percent are women and almost 40 percent are people of color. As Kennedy notes, workers making the minimum wage will "almost immediately earn an additional $1,500 to help support their families. When the full increase takes effect in 2009, these workers will see a total increase of $4,400 per year." This amount could pay for more than two years of health care, 15 months of groceries, or 30 months of college tuition at a public, two-year college. According to an analysis by the Center for American Progress, "Before today, minimum-wage earners working to buy hamburger dinners their families would've had to work nearly four more hours per week today than they did in 1997 to buy the same meal. After the increase, they'll be able to work an hour and a half less to feed their families."