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Thursday, July 24, 2008
Minimum Wage Increases Minimally
The federal minimum wage will increase to $6.55 per hour today, the second bump that is part of a law passed last year to increase the wage to $7.25 by next summer (see this story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). As the AJC correctly points out, the increase will have a significant impact in Georgia, but for more than half the states, it won't do much because the federal government is woefully behind the curve:
Yet in 30 states, Thursday's change is a yawner: They already have higher wage floors — the highest being California and Massachusetts at $8 an hour and Washington at $8.07 an hour.
In Georgia, the new floor matters: About 210,000 Georgians work for the minimum wage, according to a 2006 study by the Georgia Policy and Budget Institute. About 461,000 others, while making a little more than the minimum, would also likely get a boost because of the change, the GPBI said.
For a full-time worker, Thursday's $28-a-week raise would mean a year's pay of $13,624. That is below the official poverty line for a family of three — and about one-third of the Georgians affected by the change are parents, according to the GPBI.
Nationally, it is estimated that 2.1 million workers will receive a long-overdue pay increase today, but for a family of three, a minimum wage earner will still be well below the federal poverty line.
Related Articles:
OurFuture.org: The Next Minimum Wage Fight
Jonathan Tasani: The Minimum Wage: A Disgrace and a Scandal
EPI: Guide to the Minimum Wage
Posted by Adam Hughes
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