House panel suggests minimum wage hike - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com
The House Appropriations Committee is trying to sneak in the first minimum wage hike in over a decade, which would raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 (in three increments over two years). Adjusted for inflation, the current minimum wage is the lowest it's been in 50 years.
Just how low in the minimum wage? Based on housing prices, last year was the first year in record that it was impossible to rent a one-bedroom apartment anywhere in the entire country on a minimum wage salary.
There's concern that the wage hike will costs jobs. Perhaps, but there's also the fact that many people working at a minimum wage level are working more than one job. They might lose a job, but the increase in wages from the second could offset that, depending on the hours worked.
1 comment:
I can't imagine who is working 40 hours a week at minimum wage and trying to support themselves. There are so many jobs that almost anyone can get that pay significantly more than minimum wage (between 6 and 8 bucks an hour) that it's a joke. Who's working for minimum wage other than highschool kids and maybe a precious few adults (who aren't crazy enough to try and live by themselves on a minimum wage job; I'm renting a 3 bedroom house with my two brothers and a third of the rent+bills is still about 100 or 150 dollars cheaper than trying to live in a one bedroom apartment). Reality is that pretty much everyone has friends and family and they're already alive and paying their bills somehow.
Without a minimum wage hike.
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