The Raise the Wage Act of 2019

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An Economic Policy Institute reports that the Raise the Wage Act , now before Congress would , directly or indirectly raise the wages of 40 million workers , or nearly 27 percent of the wage- earning workforce.

The Act raises the federal minimum wage in six steps to $15 per hour by 2024. Beginning in 2025, the minimum wage would be indexed to the median wage. The bill would also gradually increase the subminimum wage for tipped workers, which has been fixed at $2.13 per hour since 1991, until it reaches parity with the regular minimum wage.

It has now been nearly ten years since Congress last raised the minimum wage.  In that time, the minimum wage has lost almost 15 percent of its value to inflation. Many of America’s workers  are paid less today than their counterparts 50 years ago.

According to the Institute’s analysis, the bill would directly lift the wages of 28.1 million workers earning less than $15 an hour, with the average directly affected worker  receiving a $4,000 increase in annual earnings— a rise of 20.9 percent. Another 11.6 million workers would benefit from a spillover effect, as employers raise wages of workers making more than $15 in order to attract and retain employees.

Over the phase-in period, the rising wage floor would generate $120 billion in additional wages, which would ripple out to low-wage workers’ families and their communities. Because lower-paid workers spend much of their extra earnings, the increased wages would help stimulate the economy and spur greater business activity and job growth.

Two-thirds of America’s working poor would receive a pay increase thanks to the Raise the Wage Act of 2019. They would mostly be  adults, working full time in regular jobs, and often with families.

Other findings by the Economic Policy Institute:

  • More than half of all affected workers would be between the ages of 25 and 54.
  • The majority of workers affected by a raise to the minimum wage (57.9 percent) are women.
  • The bill would disproportionately raise wages for people of color, with 38.1 percent of black workers and 33.4 percent of Hispanic workers seeing their wages increase.
  • 5.4 million single parents would benefit, accounting for 13.5 percent of affected workers.
  • The bill would raise wages for the parents of 14.4 million children across the United States, nearly one-fifth (19.6) percent of all U.S. children.

My comment:  About time, too!  Of course this bill has to get through the Senate, but it should  almost certainly be passed by the House.  The low wages and insecurity of low- paid American workers  is a shocking fact, made all the more unacceptable by the huge salaries enjoyed by the company bosses.  If you want to know why the country is so divided and unhappy look no further.  I think this bill is truly Epicurean, but whether  it will become law is another matter.