July 29, 1999

MINIMUM WAGE LEGISLATION (S.192/ H.R.325)

ACTION SUMMARY

The bill sponsored by Senator Kennedy (MA) (S.192) to increase the national minimum wage by one dollar over two years (at 50 cents per year) may come to the Senate floor as early as Thursday evening during the debate on tax cuts. If it does not pass, Senator Kennedy will continually attach it to other legislative vehicles until it does. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs continues to support efforts to raise the federal minimum wage that would help advance families from a state of poverty to economic self-sufficiency. Rep Bonior (MI) has introduced the companion bill in the House (H.R. 325).

Action Needed:
Call your Members of Congress now and urge them to support S.192 and H.R.325, legislation increasing the national minimum wage.

 

Background: The JCPA supports passage of legislation that would restore buying power to minimum wage workers who have seen their purchasing power fall 30 percent in the last 30 years. S.192 and H.R.325 are important because:

  • since passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which established a minimum wage and required Congressional approval for each increase, minimum wage increases have generally failed to keep pace with the rise in consumer prices;

  • erosion in the real value of the minimum wage has had a serious impact on the standard of living of the working poor. In contrast to popular misconception, over 70% of minimum wage workers are adults, not teenagers. Forty percent of the last minimum wage increase went to families in the bottom 20% of the income scale, workers who on average earn $14,000 a year. Moreover, the decrease in wages of low-wage workers has been a major factor underlying persistent poverty and a steadily widening income gap;

  • the purchasing power of the current $5.15 minimum wage is $2.31 less an hour below its purchasing power in 1968;

  • the current $5.15 per hour minimum wage, incorporating a 90-cent increase in 1996-1997, still leaves the income of a fulltime, year-round minimum wage worker insufficient to sustain a family of three above the poverty level;

  • recent studies have found that a moderate rise in the minimum wage does not reduce employment opportunities or harm small businesses. Economic conditions, not moderate minimum wage increases, determine the level of unemployment.