Minimum wage in Arizona set to go up 15¢, By Howard Fischer, October 20, 2012, Arizona Daily Star: “Workers at the bottom of the state’s pay scale will soon be able to afford 2 more gallons of milk and a loaf of bread a week. The state Industrial Commission announced Friday the new minimum wage for Arizona hourly employees will be $7.80 this coming year, up 15 cents an hour from the current level. It also is 55 cents more than required under federal law. Karen Axsom, director of the agency’s labor department, said figures she has seen from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show about 5.6 percent of all employed Arizonans are at the minimum wage. Using the most recent employment numbers, that would be about 140,000 people. But the new minimum could have a far larger ripple effect, as pushing up wages at the bottom could result in raises for those earning a little bit more…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty