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The minimum wage debate is hot. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 (FMWA) would raise the minimum from $7.25 to $10.10 over three years and then index to inflation. Why?
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<p><span>By Fred Kammer, S.J.</span></p>
<p class="e2ma-p-div"><span class="e2ma-style"> </span><span>The minimum wage debate is hot. <i>The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013</i> (FMWA) would raise the minimum from $7.25 to $10.10 over three years and then index it to inflation. Why? The minimum wage has declined in value measured against inflation, average U.S. wages, U.S. productivity, and the poverty line. A parent working full-time year-round at minimum wage cannot keep the smallest family (one parent, one child) above the poverty line. <span class="e2ma-style">[1]</span></span></p>
<p class="e2ma-p-div"><span class="e2ma-style"> </span>Opponents claim that the number of minimum wage workers is small (3.7 million), most are young and part-time, and “relatively few of them live below the poverty line.”<span class="e2ma-style">[2]</span> The argument is misleading. First, FMWA will affect not just current minimum wage workers, but 16.7 million workers earning less than $10.10. Another 11.1 million workers would benefit indirectly from the “ripple effect” of employers adjusting overall pay ladders. Of these 27.8 million, 55 percent are women, 88 percent are at least 20 years old, 54 percent work full-time, 26.5% are parents, and the average worker earns half of his or her family’s total income. <span class="e2ma-style">[3]</span> Further, between 1979 and 2011, the “share of low-wage workers (those earning less than $10 per hour in 2011 dollars) aged 25 to 64 grew from 48 percent to 60 percent…”<span class="e2ma-style">[4]</span></p>
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<p class="e2ma-p-div"><span class="e2ma-style"> </span><span>The minimum wage debate is hot. <i>The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013</i> (FMWA) would raise the minimum from $7.25 to $10.10 over three years and then index it to inflation. Why? The minimum wage has declined in value measured against inflation, average U.S. wages, U.S. productivity, and the poverty line. A parent working full-time year-round at minimum wage cannot keep the smallest family (one parent, one child) above the poverty line. <span class="e2ma-style">[1]</span></span></p>
<p class="e2ma-p-div"><span class="e2ma-style"> </span>Opponents claim that the number of minimum wage workers is small (3.7 million), most are young and part-time, and “relatively few of them live below the poverty line.”<span class="e2ma-style">[2]</span> The argument is misleading. First, FMWA will affect not just current minimum wage workers, but 16.7 million workers earning less than $10.10. Another 11.1 million workers would benefit indirectly from the “ripple effect” of employers adjusting overall pay ladders. Of these 27.8 million, 55 percent are women, 88 percent are at least 20 years old, 54 percent work full-time, 26.5% are parents, and the average worker earns half of his or her family’s total income. <span class="e2ma-style">[3]</span> Further, between 1979 and 2011, the “share of low-wage workers (those earning less than $10 per hour in 2011 dollars) aged 25 to 64 grew from 48 percent to 60 percent…”<span class="e2ma-style">[4]</span></p>
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