WASHINGTON, July 24, 2008
Minimum Wage Rises 70 Cents
Increase To $6.55 Per Hour Marks Second Of Three Annual Increases
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The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law. Next year's boost will bring the federal minimum to $7.25 an hour.
Workers like Walter Jasper, who earns minimum wage at a car wash in Nashville, Tenn., are happy to take the raise, but will still struggle with the higher gas and food prices hammering Americans.
"It will help out a little," said Jasper, who with his fiancée support a family of seven, and who earns the minimum plus commissions when customers order premium car-wash services.
The bus fare he pays each day to get to work already went up to $4.80 this spring from $4. "I'd like to be on a job where I can at least get a car," he said.
Last week, the Labor Department reported the fastest inflation since 1991 - 5 percent for June compared with a year earlier. Energy costs soared nearly 25 percent. The price of food rose more than 5 percent.
So the minimum wage hike is "a drop in the bucket compared to the increases in costs, declining labor market, and declining household wealth that consumers have experienced in the past year," Lehman Brothers economist Zach Pandl said.
The new minimum is less than the inflation-adjusted 1997 level of $7.02, and far below the inflation-adjusted level of $10.06 from 40 years ago, according to a Labor Department inflation calculator.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have laws making the minimum wage higher than the new federal requirement, a group covering 60 percent of U.S. workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank.
"You get desperate, because you can't really pay for everything," said Gladys Lopez, 51, a garment worker from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, who makes military uniforms and has earned the federal minimum for 18 years.
She says she would need to make at least $50 more a week to pay all her bills and take care of her 84-year-old mother, whom she supports.
When the minimum rises again next year, catching up with more states, more than 5 million workers will get a raise, said Lisa Lynch, dean of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University.
Some small businesses are already making plans to raise prices to offset the higher wages they have to pay their workers.
David Heath, owner of Tiki Tan in College Station, Texas, said the increase will force him to raise prices for his monthly tanning services by about 12 percent. Tiki Tan had been paying its employees $6 per hour.
"There just isn't any room for profit, and so this is why prices will have to go up," he said, citing the wage increase and higher fuel costs. "I have to recoup those costs."
The increase in the minimum wage could push food prices even higher by rising the pay for agricultural workers, said Brian Bethune, chief U.S. economist at consulting firm Global Insight.
But he said he did not expect the change to have a major impact on the economy because recent increases in productivity, which enables companies to produce more with fewer workers, are keeping labor costs in check.
That makes it unlikely the minimum wage increase will trigger a "wage-price spiral," in which workers facing higher costs demand more pay, which in turn causes companies to raise prices higher, sending inflation coursing through the economy.
And most businesses, even restaurants and other service sector companies, already pay above the minimum wage anyway. Dan Whitaker, general manager at Anis Bistro in Atlanta, a casual French restaurant, said employees earn at least $8 an hour.
"You can't get a dishwasher for minimum wage," he said.
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See all 96 CommentsProof that Government manipulates the free markets.Wake up People and think
The increase, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law. Next year''s boost will bring the federal minimum to $7.25 an hour."
In 1968, my mom was hired at Delco, and started at 3.15/hr. Gas was about .27/gal and a brand new car cost between 1500.00 for a low end, fully stacked model to 6000.00 for a new Caddy. By 1978, that starting wage was over 13.00/hr for the same job.
The shame of this was and is that from 1978 when I started working and made 2.65/hr to 1984 when I was paid 7.15/hr that so many had elsewhere had so little wage increase despite years passing and costs increasing. In 1973, one could buy a 4 bdrm home with full basement, l/d and eatin kitchen for 17,500.00.
Now greedy employers want 2 or 3 cars for their own, braces and the best schools for their kids and think nothing of paying people so little for so long. 1968--3.13/hr--40 YEARS later and we could not even double that wage--but we could raise the price of food, utilities, gas, clothing , etc by 5 to 6000%?
Surely America has more sins to pay for than just Iraq.
Posted by MyOpinion1 at 07:55 AM : Jul 24, 2008
I agree. I have paid more and put my money where my mouth is, employing and trying to buy from US citizens producing US services and products since 1986--about the time Reagan was thinking of granting his first huge amnesty to illegals and the Japanese started really buying up our country. It may not be an easy stance--but if you think only money first and invest globally instead of in your own country--then you sacrifice your infrastructure and country to globalism--this means you destroy your own country for an idea whose true purpose is not embracing humanity--but to make more money on the backs of more people--for investors and to d1ck the American worker while doing so--in favor of cheaper labor--insourced (like illegals and H1-B Visad people) and outsourcing.
It''s a corporations dream, keep those wages low to maintain the lavish lifestyle of some CEO--and the government is on their side!!!
It''s sickening to think the lifestyle of a corporation depends on an underpaid worker!
The middle class is like a fish out of water gasping for it''s last breath in vain.
Proof that Government manipulates the free markets.Wake up People and think
Posted by WarDogLRS at 08:22 AM : Jul 24, 2008
LOL. We already KNOW by dint of all the bailouts and rebate checks that the government tries to manipulate the markets--but we also KNOW due to the huge losses--that the US government cannot CONTROL or even predict the effects of that manipulation. We also KNOW that despite the propaganda outsourcing and insourcing are good for a few--but rarely for the US worker. The goal in both is to employ the world and equalize wages globally so that the world is the consuming public--the only problem is over 4/5 of the world subsisted on less than 500.00/year.
so to average that all out our wages must come down to equalize wages or theirs must really rise. At the Chrysler plant in Mexico, the avg wage is about 26.00/day. That plant was installed in the late 1980s. To make us all "on par" --you do the math.
Posted by toldyouso12 at 08:48 AM : Jul 24, 2008
.............
Ah yes, that perfectly describes the pillars of Conservatism!
Or, put simply:
"As long as you''re doing okay, ***** everyone else!"
No.. the REAL BAD NEWS is that at 7.50/hr or even 10.00/hr but the avg car costing over 14,000.00, a pkg of chicken costing 6 to 11.00/package, gas costing over 4.00/gal, the avg routine check up doctor visit costing around 85.00, etc that even if the minimum wage was 12.00/hour it would not be enough to change lives or lift people out of poverty.
Who are we kidding--the United States has not cared or substantially changed how much they have paid many of its workers for DECADES. Like I said--from 1968 to 2008...40 years later, we can raise gas/cigarette and even food prices by over a thousand%--but we can''t even double the wages for menial labor in that same time period.
Posted by fstop100 at 08:59 AM : Jul 24, 2008
........
LOL!
Walmart''s REAL slogan should be"
"Always low wages. Always."
Posted by GOP_forever at 08:48 AM : Jul 24, 2008
LOL--In Ft Dodge, IA a registered nurse starts at 13.00/hour. The avg home costs 137K and cars still cost 12K to 40K for a new one. Right now, schools are churning out new computer techs and nurses, etc but what they don''t tell you is that they are getting a lot more visad applicants. Visa''d workers for professional (educated) jobs can only be given when there is no American available to fit the bill. Those visa''d workers accept huge pay cuts, cram together--but their presence also means a lot of Americans do not get hired and companies either lie or manipulate their availbility. HOW? The avg university will only accept 16 new nursing students PER YEAR--so there is always a nursing shortage. Those applicants must have a 3.75 GPA or hired to even be considered and must take high levels of Organic and Inorganic chem--that they will NEVER use as a nurse. All to weed them out and thin out American nurses to justify massive insourcing.
right now in Silicon Valley, the avg computer tech and engineer comes from India--the American degreed applicants can''t get hired--because hiring American citizens require companies to pay for SS, worker''s comp, pension plan etc--all things they don''t have to do with insourced foreigners.
Or, put simply:
"As long as you''''re doing okay, ***** everyone else!"
Posted by DaysRnumbrd at 08:54 AM : Jul 24, 2008
Yep. Case in point, the little tidbit from this poster: This hike in minimum raise will cause us to go into recession. Those minimum wage people make enough money. If they want more they should have gone to college.
Posted by GOP_forever at 08:48 AM : Jul 24, 2008
We should tell him and every other GOP defender to bend over so all those "poor/uneducated workers can pull their college tuition fees out of their over privileged azzes.
...........
Yep. Your posts have very well spelled out the plans by the elites to take away the influence and power (what little there is of it) of the middle class and turn us into serfs.
Posted by fsw3 at 09:00 AM : Jul 24, 2008
LOL--that''s real cute. The REALITY is: Over 20% of American make minimum wage or less and over 40% of Americans make under 30K as single earners. Now....let''s see at 7.50/hr--using your formula, the avg worker would make--gasp---30.00 HUGE ONES. and in a full 8 hour a day they would make 60.00--but.. then let''s take away at least 12% to 18% for Federal taxes. Another 10% for State Taxes. Just slice off about 4.50 to 6.00 per day for FICA, let them also take out 6.00/day for benefits so what does that worker have to lift them out of poverty?
60-12.00=48-6.00=42-4.50 (we''ll use the low amount)37.50-6.00=31.50. 31.50 X 5= ~160.00/week or 640.00/month
Now, that is about how much they would make in a day working 8 hours. Let''s have fun with this--let''s pretend gas was still...say 1.50/gal and they only needed a tank a week and had a 20 gal tank. One tank of gas would = almost a full days wages even if gas was HALF or even less of what it is now.
next post
.........
Yep. As I have said, and you have clearly detailed...
...the plan of the elites are clear for this country:
1. Continue a steady flow of illegal immigrants to work in the jobs that pay minimum wages (or illegally lower).
2. Continue to push for increases in the H1B Visa program for (legal) immigrants to fill the more skilled jobs that would require an American to be paid at a starting wage above $20 an hour.
Both plans are designed to minimize wages and maximize profits... only to be enjoyed by the elite class investors and executives.
The term "profit sharing" is a new oxymoron of the 21st century!
Even if you put the "philosophy of the minimum wage to work" but never factor in rising costs, the reality was not just that those who got it could not make it today, they could not have gotten out of poverty in 1999 either. But back to our model of a paycheck at 640.00/month.
Apt rental--500.00/mo (utilities paid of course) oops--right there--they are in deep doo doo. And that is not accounting for inflation in food, rents, insurance, actual medical bills or anything else like school fees for kids, books, clothing, repairs for that car or home--are WE LEARNING YET?
7.50/HOUR WAS NEVER DESIGNED TO LIFT ANYONE OUT OF POVERTY--NOT IN 1995, NOT IN 2008. It was designed to throw crumbs at the poorest and hope they never made the connection between the self centered greed of many in this country and the fading view of the American Dream.
Marie Antoinette may have said "Let them eat cake" but it takes the American Congress and the GOP to say, "the crumbs from that cake are good enough for the poor"
Incidentally, the poverty level criteria for a family of 4 with two working adults was/is over 40K/year. Two people making 640.00/month paychecks do not even come to 23K per year let alone 40K.
The fact is, the Middle Class as we know it and have lived it was the result of a happy accident of much needed labor and unions pushing for it in the late 1870s to the 1930s--it continued unabated due to wars and need for rebuilding in countries up until the 1970s. Then we had the first contraction.
What people need to remember (especially us serfs) is that throughout history, the world has always been ruled by an elite class with everyone else being soooo poor they could not rise. The advances of the American middle class came at a great cost of blood and anger to the rich and they have deplored its rise. There is a push to return to the status quo--where a few get filthy rich and the others serve them--now and then a sprinkle of wealth or its promises are given to serf collaborators stupid enough to think that one day, they can stand on everyone else too.
At no time in history have the rich or elite willingly surrendered power or monies to the poor and the sad fact is, Americans have been fed lies about Unions, lies about how wealth is achieved and are their own worst enemy.
We use to be the richest and most repected country in the world. Now after 8 years of the SHRUB and trickle down economics we are really getting the meaning of trickle down, .... the rich get richer and the poor become more numerous and much poorer. Add to this the short plant called "Bush" has made us the laughing stock of the world! IMPEACH BUSH!
Posted by toldyouso12 at 09:46 AM : Jul 24, 2008
Now Why would they do this? Simple: they want to ensure their own workers and country stay a viable society and culture. And America? Secretly many rich Americans have no loyalty or true ties to America. They have their 2nd or 3rd homes in S. America, or Europe or Mexico or the Phillipines, etc--for them we are fodder to be used. To that end we are exploited.
We are taught to sell out, back stab each other, not trust Unions or any group who would collectively fight for us and give us more power. We are taught that if we are smart enough, lucky enough, conniving enough, ruthless enough, we can also be one of the few, the proud, the rich--what they don''t tell you is that they are continually making that gulf soooo great, that the only way anyone will be able to survive or get ahead is by corruption or harming others--sheer hard work will not even pay the bills of the future--but sheer hard work will ensure the poor remain poor and the rich will have finally succeeded in putting us all back into our place--at their feet.
All this means that we are run by people with few scruples and morals, and as the actions of Bush et al (include the Dems and their spend happy budgets in this) propel us over the cliffs--they know something they don''t want the avg American to realize just yet: WE HAVE ALREADY ENTERED THE TIME OF EVERY MAN/WOMAN FOR THEMSELVES. GET WHAT YOU CAN--FVCK THE COUNTRY. The difference is, both sides have to give lip service to caring about the rest of us--while they import illegals, sign bills for NAFTA and CAFTA and tell us to pay no attention to the stuff they, their companies, or their spouses do.
Do you not see this? Minimum wage keeps us out of a recession, unless it involves college graduates, in which case their way-above minimum wage pay is good for the economy....
Whooooo.... Too heavy to handle!!!
Do you not see this? Minimum wage keeps us out of a recession, unless it involves college graduates, in which case their way-above minimum wage pay is good for the economy....
Whooooo.... Too heavy to handle!!!
Posted by cqsallie
Wages for many college graduates are being pushed down through bogus programs like the H1B1 visa. A much better example of pay raises would be CEOs.
I am so tired of hearing about how the Government owes people a living. It doesn''t!!! A livable wage means going to college to get an education or to a trade school so you can obtain meaningful employment in order to support one self. So don%u2019t blame the Government... blame yourself!
Posted by fsw3
Hmmm... that is the only post I''ve read that makes sense!
This helps no one better their lot in life, and does help trap a few more at the bottom.
Posted by TexasVoter
Spoken like a true idiot, look outside, past the rear ends of the cattle in your front yard, there are college grads, along with experienced laid off computer programmers, engineers, ex teachers, construction workers, auto workers, competing for those minimum-wage jobs, because the fields of study they mastered have been farmed out to slave labor countries like India, programmers in Russia, and electrical component service in China.
A fitting allegory for your comment would be to compare it to a rich person who buys and locks up all the soap, then blames others because their clothes aren''t clean.
Raise the minimum wage by $20 dollars an hour and raise individul taxes by $19 dollars per hour.
This is a win-win for the government and the people and will give everyone a $1 raise and put billions into the government to pay down debt, for new energy and social programs, etc.
Should remind you of a two legged stool.
Posted by brianbwb
********************
Now that''s funny! Good one brianbwb....He''d have to get up on his Duelly Truck to do it though!
............
Gotta be kind to those folks in Texas brian. You''re not supposed to agitate autistic people!
Just commend him/her for typing and posting a complete sentence (or two). Like this:
"You''re such a good little boy Texasvoter, now go get some juice from your mommy."
Posted by kesac4650 at 10:22 AM : Jul 24, 2008
Now you know that ain''t true, My abandon lot is so strewn with weeds and garbage, that with this raise, I can now afford garbage bags, and a new weedeater.
Yee Haw!!
Now I''''ve seen it all.
Posted by ddhinnyc at 12:41 PM : Jul 24, 2008
.................
Typical Repub, some poor slob gets a few extra pennys a day for working a cra**y job and they get livid, let the rich get bail outs in billions and thier ok. No were in the article did it say anyone blamed America, the family they support were thier children or Jasper was complaining. People who work these jobs despite low pay, no benifits and bad conditions really deserve more than minimum wage and perhaps a little respect.
Just another example folks, that Republicans believe in serfdom and slavery.
If you want McCain then you will have full employment; I mean serfdom.
What state do you live in and were is you son? The reason I ask this is there are plenty of job openings in marketing down here in Texas. Is he a recent graduate?
Any ADULT earning minimum wage needs to go to the nearest tattoo shack and have a BIG "L" put on his/her forehead.
Do you mean like Obama''s proposed indentured servitude for high school kids under the the term ''mandatory public service''. The concern over minimum wage is not adults making minimum wage but rather the number of youths (under 21) who are unemployed. That number has skyrocketed since the increases began. They are the lowest trained lest experienced and are the first to be fired/not hired as businesses look at their staff. How are these youths supposed to get experience if they can''t get a job. Additionally, these youth are more likely to then be involved in greater mischief and crime than they would had they been employed. UC Irvine has found that a 10% increase in minimum wage results in an 8.5% drop in employment for low/unskilled workers under 24.
"The minimum wage levels should be automatic. Every year the cost of living should be calculated along with what it takes for a family of four to live above the poverty line. Whatever that poverty line is, the minimum wage should be three percent above it, providing a forty hour work week"
Posted by Avig
They tried this in the Soviet Union....Didn''t work
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