- State leaders reach deal to raise minimum wage, By Thomas Kaplan, March 18, 2013, New York Times: “Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders reached a tentative agreement on Monday to increase the state’s minimum wage to $9 over the next three years. Increasing the wage had been a top priority of Democrats in Albany, including the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, and one of the leaders of the Senate, Jeffrey D. Klein, who heads an independent faction of Democrats. Along with Mr. Cuomo, they had argued that the current minimum wage in New York, $7.25, was too low to support workers, and that the wage had not kept pace with the rising cost of living…”
- N.Y.’s minimum wage increase could push Congress to act, By Brian Tumulty, March 21, 2013, USA Today: “A deal in New York to raise the state’s minimum wage could provide a playbook for Democrats in Congress who are working along the same lines nationally. New York state lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo have agreed to increase the state’s minimum wage to $9 an hour. The plan, which would phase in the increase over three years, is a small piece of a much bigger pending agreement involving a budget for the state’s new fiscal year, which begins April 1. New York’s proposed minimum wage — which would amount to $360 a week or $18,720 annually — is significant because Congress typically raises the federal minimum after a significant number of states raise their rates…”
Day: March 21, 2013
“Iowa Kids,” Des Moines Register Special Report
Unprecedented Challenges for Iowa Kids, special report homepage, Des Moines Register:
- In child care, struggles with cost and quality, By Sara Sleyster, March 17, 2013, Des Moines Register: “Lindsay Trumblee spent a month searching for child care she thought would keep her toddler daughter safe, happy and learning. ‘I had checked out centers and just was really discouraged — there were too many kids. It was not organized,’ said Trumblee, 24, who eventually found an in-home provider where Avri, now 3, has thrived. Like Trumblee, parents around the country have long found the search for child care to be a time of high anxiety. Often, parents struggle to match their desire for the best care for their children with what they can afford. In Iowa, the search can be especially difficult. The state licenses child care centers before they open, but in-home child care businesses that care for fewer than six children can start without any state oversight. Parents must navigate a patchwork of providers with varying education levels and experience who offer uneven care…”
- ‘Child care cliff’ makes it tough for working poor to get ahead, By Sara Sleyster, March 17, 2013, Des Moines Register: “The parents of 4-year-old Jocelyn Fernandez last month faced the threat of losing $600 a month in state child care assistance and having to pull their daughter from the center she attends. The problem? Her mother, Leslie Ortiz, had taken a new job last fall with better pay to help the family make ends meet. With the income of her husband, Luis Fernandez, who works at Auto Zone, the family was earning $200 a month over the eligibility limit for child care assistance. Keeping the job and keeping their daughter in child care would have left the family worse off financially. Iowa experts call the situation the Ortiz family faced ‘the child care cliff.’ All state child care assistance for a family ends abruptly when they reach a certain income. Critics say the sharp cutoff has the unintended consequences of hindering working-poor families who want to climb the ladder of self-sufficiency. Earn even a few more pennies an hour, and a family’s financial situation is suddenly worse…”