A state Senate committee will hear a bill Wednesday to increase the minimum wage to $6.65 an hour by Jan. 1, 2005.
The Senate Jobs, Energy and Community Development Committee, chaired by Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, will hear the bill which Anderson authored at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in Room 107 of the Capitol.
The legislation would increase the minimum wage in two increments of 75 cents each, until it reaches $6.65 per hour on Jan. 1, 2005.
?The minimum wage has lost more than a third of its value since the late 1960s,? said Kris Jacobs, executive director of the JOBS NOW Coalition, which has long advocated for an increase. ?At its current level of $5.15 per hour, a Minnesota couple with two children would have to work more than four full-time minimum-wage jobs?or 177 hours a week?just to meet their basic needs.?
Lead testimony at Wednesday?s hearing will be provided by Dr. Ann Markusen, Director of the Project on Regional and Industrial Economics at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Professor Markusen recently authored a paper, "The Case for a Substantial Minimum Wage Increase in Minnesota," which argues that the minimum wage plays an important role in determining the wages of the state?s overall workforce, especially for workers with only a high school education and those living in rural areas.
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Mankato business owner Todd Perkins will also testify in favor of the increase. Others scheduled to testify include representatives of JOBS NOW, the Archdiocese of Duluth, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, the Minnesota Community Action Association, Women Venture, and the Children?s Defense Fund.
If the value of the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since the late 1960s, it would now be $8.46 per hour. According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, almost one-fifth of the state?s workers?nearly 450,000 workers?earn less than $8.46 per hour.
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Jacobs noted that a worker in Greater Minnesota is almost twice as likely to earn below the inflation-adjusted minimum wage as a worker from the Twin Cities Metro Region. More than one-fourth (26%) of all Greater Minnesota workers earn less than $8.46 per hour.
As part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the original purpose of the minimum wage law was to put a meaningful floor under wages, Jacobs said. It was meant to prevent market forces from driving the wages of the least-skilled workers down below a level deemed fair.
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Until the early 1980s, political leaders from both parties supported minimum wage increases for a simple, fundamental reason: they believed that people who worked full time should earn enough to cover their basic needs. Over the last 20 years, however, this bipartisan consensus has been shattered. The result is that the minimum wage is no longer a meaningful floor under wages because it has failed to keep pace with the real costs facing working families, Jacobs noted.
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The federal minimum wage was last raised six years ago. Although Minnesota's minimum wage has remained the same as the federal minimum, 12 other states have passed legislation providing for a higher minimum wage. In fact, both Alaska and Washington State have raised it to over $7.00. ?There have been attempts in Washington to raise it to $6.65, but Congress has continually failed to act,? said Jacobs.
Minnesotans strongly support raising the minimum wage, according to a poll done for JOBS NOW by the Minnesota Center for Survey Research. It indicated 81 percent of Minnesotans believe the current minimum wage of $5.15 per hour is too low.
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A state Senate committee will hear a bill Wednesday to increase the minimum wage to $6.65 an hour by Jan. 1, 2005.
The Senate Jobs, Energy and Community Development Committee, chaired by Sen. Ellen Anderson, DFL-St. Paul, will hear the bill which Anderson authored at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in Room 107 of the Capitol.
The legislation would increase the minimum wage in two increments of 75 cents each, until it reaches $6.65 per hour on Jan. 1, 2005.
?The minimum wage has lost more than a third of its value since the late 1960s,? said Kris Jacobs, executive director of the JOBS NOW Coalition, which has long advocated for an increase. ?At its current level of $5.15 per hour, a Minnesota couple with two children would have to work more than four full-time minimum-wage jobs?or 177 hours a week?just to meet their basic needs.?
Lead testimony at Wednesday?s hearing will be provided by Dr. Ann Markusen, Director of the Project on Regional and Industrial Economics at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Professor Markusen recently authored a paper, “The Case for a Substantial Minimum Wage Increase in Minnesota,” which argues that the minimum wage plays an important role in determining the wages of the state?s overall workforce, especially for workers with only a high school education and those living in rural areas.
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Mankato business owner Todd Perkins will also testify in favor of the increase. Others scheduled to testify include representatives of JOBS NOW, the Archdiocese of Duluth, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition, the Minnesota Community Action Association, Women Venture, and the Children?s Defense Fund.
If the value of the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since the late 1960s, it would now be $8.46 per hour. According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, almost one-fifth of the state?s workers?nearly 450,000 workers?earn less than $8.46 per hour.
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Jacobs noted that a worker in Greater Minnesota is almost twice as likely to earn below the inflation-adjusted minimum wage as a worker from the Twin Cities Metro Region. More than one-fourth (26%) of all Greater Minnesota workers earn less than $8.46 per hour.
As part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the original purpose of the minimum wage law was to put a meaningful floor under wages, Jacobs said. It was meant to prevent market forces from driving the wages of the least-skilled workers down below a level deemed fair.
online pharmacy buy minocin no prescription with best prices today in the USA
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Until the early 1980s, political leaders from both parties supported minimum wage increases for a simple, fundamental reason: they believed that people who worked full time should earn enough to cover their basic needs. Over the last 20 years, however, this bipartisan consensus has been shattered. The result is that the minimum wage is no longer a meaningful floor under wages because it has failed to keep pace with the real costs facing working families, Jacobs noted.
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The federal minimum wage was last raised six years ago. Although Minnesota’s minimum wage has remained the same as the federal minimum, 12 other states have passed legislation providing for a higher minimum wage. In fact, both Alaska and Washington State have raised it to over $7.00. ?There have been attempts in Washington to raise it to $6.65, but Congress has continually failed to act,? said Jacobs.
Minnesotans strongly support raising the minimum wage, according to a poll done for JOBS NOW by the Minnesota Center for Survey Research. It indicated 81 percent of Minnesotans believe the current minimum wage of $5.15 per hour is too low.
Related article
State should raise minimum wage, economist says