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Federal and Pa. minimum wage is $7.25. A minimum wage earner working full time, with no days off, earns $15,080 or only 82% of the federal HHS Poverty Guideline for a family of three (a traditional measure of minimum wage adequacy). Rep. Mark Cohen has introduced legislation in Pennsylvania to raise the minimum wage to at least $9, as advocated by President Barack Obama. Currently, 18 states have minimum wages higher than the federal government.
Cohen legislation H.B. 1057.
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2011 HHS Poverty
Guidelines
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Persons
in Family
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48 Contiguous
States and D.C.
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Alaska
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Hawaii
|
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1
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$10,890
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$13,600
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$12,540
|
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2
|
$14,710
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$18,380
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$16,930
|
|
3
|
$18,530
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$23,160
|
$21,320
|
|
4
|
$22,350
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$27,940
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$25,710
|
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5
|
$26,170
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$32,720
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$30,100
|
|
6
|
$29,990
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$37,500
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$34,490
|
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7
|
$33,810
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$42,280
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$38,880
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8
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$37,630
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$47,060
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$43,270
|
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For each additional
person, add
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$3,820
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$4,780
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$4,390
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The Benefits of Raising the
Minimum Wage
The Minimum Wage:
Information, Opinion, Research
Raising state and federal minimum
wages within reasonable limits benefits many
working families. How much will it do so?
Proponents and opponents alike often
exaggerate its impact, and even realistic
economists who support increases warn that a
higher minimum wage is not a cure-all for
poverty. With that said, studies point to
the following benefits of a minimum wage
that keeps up with the cost of living and
with other wages.
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It is good for poor families. Minimum
wage increases help millions of people
who work not only at the minimum wage
but below it and just above it as well.
While an increase of a few thousand
dollars per year will rarely by itself
lift a person or a family out of
poverty, it does ease the struggle to
pay for groceries or child care or rent,
and it adds meaning and dignity to
labor. A reasonable minimum wage is an
indispensable step towards the goal of
reducing poverty, along with other steps
that include credits on taxes, better
education, and broader health coverage.
A fair minimum wage is not enough, but
it is essential.
-
It is good for communities. With it,
low-wage workers spend more at local
businesses and rely less on local social
service agencies for assistance. The
changes help build the local tax base
and reduce the spending of local taxes
on social assistance programs.
-
It is good for businesses. Minimum wage
increases have resulted in reduced
absenteeism, less turnover, and better
morale among employees, as well as
reduced recruiting and training costs
for employers, all of which contribute
to higher productivity.
-
It is good for minority working women.
More women than men fill the lowest-wage
jobs in retail, health care, and
restaurants and hotels, and a third of
them are African-American and Hispanic.
-
It is good for the tax payer. Unlike
government assistance programs, the
minimum wage helps the working poor
without adding to the tax bill.
-
It is good for the nation. A strong
minimum wage helps reduce the gap in
incomes between the poor and the wealthy
in America. When such a gap becomes too
wide, democratic values are threatened,
because the freedoms to vote, speak out
on public issues, and enjoy a stable and
open society are not meaningful for
those who are worn out by struggles for
the basics of life.
-
Its disadvantages have been exaggerated.
The most common objection to minimum
wage increases continues to be that if
small business owners are faced with
high labor costs, they will reduce the
number or hours of their employees and
might close their doors. But studies
show that this scenario overlooks the
flexibilitiy of employees and employers
when the minimum wage changes. States
that increase their minimum wages have
stronger job growth compared to states
where the minimum wage is static. And
the risk of business failure does not
increase when the minimum wage does.
--Brock Haussamen; revised
2011
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