From the Economic Policy Institute (http://www.epi.org/):
What’s happening
For more than a decade, the federal minimum wage has not budged from $7.25 an hour.
The Raise the Wage Act, introduced in the House Tuesday, would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, narrowing racial and gender pay gaps and strengthening the economic well-being of this country’s lowest-paid workers.
Here’s the Act’s upshot:
- Raises the minimum wage to $9.50 this year.
- Then raises it in steps annually to $15 by 2025.
- After that, adjusts the wage to keep pace with the growth of typical worker pay.
- Phases out the tipped-worker wage (frozen at $2.13 since 1991)—so that all workers must be paid at least the regular minimum wage.
Who will benefit?
- 32 million workers—or 21% of the U.S. workforce.
- Year-round workers, who will see $3,300 added to their annual income.
- Women, who make up the majority of minimum wage earners.
- People of color, who make up a disproportionate share of low-wage workers.
- 60% of workers living in poverty.
- Communities, thanks to workers having $107 billion more to spend.
It’s past time to raise the federal minimum wage.
Why the U.S. needs a $15 minimum wage
The federal minimum hourly wage is just $7.25 and Congress has not increased it since 2009. Low wages hurt all workers and are particularly harmful to Black workers and other workers of color, especially women of color, who make up a disproportionate share of workers who are severely underpaid. Read the fact sheet at https://www.epi.org/publication/why-america-needs-a-15-minimum-wage/.
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