- Minimum wage earners in 7 states getting raises, By Kristen Wyatt (AP), December 30, 2010, Washington Post: “It will be a happier New Year for nearly 650,000 workers earning minimum wage. They’re getting small raises in seven states that tie their salaries to the cost of living. The minimum wages in those states will go up between 9 cents and 12 cents an hour Saturday because their consumer price indexes rose in 2010. The extra pennies can’t come soon enough for Joe Martinez of Denver, who works odd jobs such as lawn maintenance for minimum wage. In Colorado, the wage is rising 11 cents, from the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour to $7.36 an hour. ‘The prices of everything are going up – food, rent, electricity,’ Martinez, 55, said on his lunch break Wednesday. ‘I know it’s not a lot of money, but any extra money will help, you know?’ Poverty advocates say the rising minimum wages shouldn’t be seen as raises, just adjustments to keep the working poor at the same level as prices of goods rise…”
- Minimum wage up to $7.40 in Ohio, By James Pilcher, January 3, 2011, Cincinnati Enquirer: “Workers earning minimum wage in Ohio are getting a New Year’s bump – a 10-cent-an hour raise. Because voters in 2006 approved linking the state’s minimum wage to inflation, Ohio’s minimum wage stands at $7.40 an hour as of Jan. 1, compared to the federal rate of $7.25 an hour. The new hourly wage will affect nearly 270,000 Ohioans in jobs such as restaurant, retail and housekeeping work, based on estimates by the Cleveland-based progressive think tank Policy Matters Ohio. But some business experts and economists worry that the pay hike comes at a potentially sensitive time, as state and national economies are sputtering to recover from the recession…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty