Minimum Wage Hike Up in the Senate

The raise in the minimum wage is a perfect example of economic policy that is crucial for moving to more equity in the U.S. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), raising the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour will affect 14.8 million low-wage workers. EPI reports that CEO pay was 821 times the minimum wage in 2005.

Minimum wage is a women’s issue. Nearly two thirds of minimum wage workers are women, and women are concentrated in many minimum wage fields such as maids and housekeepers, food servers, cashiers, and child care workers. Over 1.4 million single parents will benefit from this wage increase, and these parents are overhwhelmingly female.

The House passed the increase 315 to 116. Many in the Senate are trying to water down the effort by attaching tax breaks for small businesses to the legislation. Click here to read EPI’s Jared Bernstein testimony at the Senate Finance Committee hearings on January 10.

The Senate may vote this week. Please contact your senators and ask them to support the minimum wage increase. NOW makes it easy with links to email and phone your senators.