- Raise minimum wage? One answer to income disparity, advocates say, By Brad Knickerbocker, November 9, 2013, Christian Science Monitor: “Washington is girding for another debate over raising the federal minimum wage, which has stood at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Many Democrats in Congress – led by Rep. George Miller of California in the House and Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa in the Senate – want to raise that $7.25 amount (actually, $4.87 in 1996 dollars) to $10.10 an hour…”
- States moving beyond U.S. minimum wage as Congress stalls, By William Selway and Jim Efstathiou Jr., November 11, 2013, Bloomberg: “President Barack Obama is pushing to raise the U.S. minimum wage higher than $7.25 an hour — the rate it’s been for four years. Half of the U.S. population won’t have to wait: They live in places where the bottom rate is already higher than that. Twenty-one states and Washington, D.C., have raised the lowest legal hourly wage above the rate set by Congress, with New Jersey voters joining the list last week and campaigns under way to do the same in at least five other states…”
- $10 minimum wage proposal has growing support from White House, By Catherine Rampell and Steven Greenhouse, November 7, 2013, New York Times: “The White House has thrown its weight behind a proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $10 an hour. ‘The president has long supported raising the minimum wage so hard-working Americans can have a decent wage for a day’s work to support their families and make ends meet,’ a White House official said. President Obama, the official continued, supports the Harkin-Miller bill, also known as the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, from its current $7.25…”
- Gallup Poll says 3 out of 4 Americans favor raising the minimum wage, By Olivera Perkins, November 12, 2013, Cleveland Plain Dealer: “More than three-quarters of Americans support raising the federal minimum hourly wage to $9 an hour, according to a Gallup Poll. While 76 percent support the wage hike, a slightly smaller percentage favor a raise that would include automatic increases, says the poll released Monday. Sixty-nine percent are in favor of a $9 minimum wage that would increase with inflation. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. (Ohio’s minimum is $7.85.)…”
- State to raise minimum wage in 2014, By Jonathan Shorman, November 12, 2013, News-Leader: “For the second consecutive year, Missouri’s minimum wage will increase in 2014, rising to $7.50 an hour from $7.35. The increase is automatically triggered by a cost-of-living formula. The increase, supported by groups such as Missouri Jobs with Justice, is opposed by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce. Since 2006, Missouri’s minimum wage has been tied to a cost-of-living formula, after voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring an annual adjustment. Though the wage can fall under the formula, it has never done so. Between 2009 and 2012, the wage held steady at $7.25 an hour…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty