Salon Magazine: Jared Bernstein: 'Raise The Minimum Wage!'

Source:Salon Magazine with a look at workers pay.

"From saving working families much-needed cash to reducing poverty, it's a great way to kickstart the economy. 

It’s a great idea, one I’ve espoused on these very pages. The President suggested raising the federal minimum from its current level of $7.25 up to $9 by 2015 and then index it to inflation. An increase of that magnitude would directly lift the wages of 15 million low-wage workers, according to the WH.

Clearly, in an economy where for decades growth has failed to reach our lowest wage workers, it’s time to raise the wage floor to ensure that low-wage workers have a decent shot at a fair wage.

From the WH fact sheet:

Raising the minimum wage mostly benefits adults, and especially working women: Around 60 percent of workers benefiting from a higher minimum wage are women, and few are teenagers – less than 20 percent.

Raising the minimum wage helps parents: The average worker who would benefit from a rise in the minimum wage to $9 an hour brought home 46 percent of his or her household’s total wage and salary income in 2011, according to the Current Population Survey. 

For a working family earning $20,000 – $30,000, the extra $3,500 per year from raising the minimum wage would cover:

* The family’s spending on groceries for a year; or

* The family’s spending on utilities for a year; or

* The family’s spending on gasoline and clothing for a year; or

* Six months of housing.

Raising the minimum wage will boost wages without jeopardizing jobs while improving turnover and productivity: A range of economic studies show that modestly raising the minimum wage increases earnings and reduces poverty without measurably reducing employment, and that in fact employers may see a more stable workforce due to reduced turnover and increased productivity... 

From Salon Magazine