Tag Archives: Raise the wage

NH AFL-CIO President Mark MacKenzie Pushes For A Higher Minimum Wage For NH Working Families

  By New Hampshire Labor News | February 28, 2013 - 7:00 am | ,
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NH AFL-CIO Logo

For Cost-Effective Economic Development, Consider the Minimum Wage
By President Mark MacKenzie

President Obama raised the hopes of thousands of Granite Staters when he called for raising the minimum wage in his State of the Union address.

His words should also raise the hopes of our state leaders. We’ve seen intense debate in our Legislature and town halls over the past few years about how to strengthen our economy after the Great Recession and help working people get back on their feet.

For thousands of Granite Staters living on the edge, the minimum wage determines whether their jobs pay enough to make ends meet. Yet it isn’t just workers who have a stake in the minimum wage. The small businesses they patronize and the communities they live in all stand to gain from reestablishing New Hampshire’s minimum wage. If our leaders are serious about encouraging New Hampshire’s economic development, they will consider reestablishing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation.

Throughout the recession, Granite Staters relied increasingly on low-wage jobs to support their families. We lost nearly 6000 jobs between January 2012 and December 2012, according to the New Hampshire Economic & Labor Market Bureau.  Alarmingly, the largest losses were in construction, healthcare, education, local government and manufacturing – all sectors that historically pay a living wage. And of the sectors that added jobs, one third paid an average of $10.85 an hour.

This is not an isolated trend. Contrary to popular belief, changing the minimum wage will not just impact teenagers and semi-retired people. As wages for working families have fallen and breadwinners come to rely on low-wage jobs to support their families, the minimum wage plays an increasingly critical role in determining whether a job gets a family out of poverty or keeps them in it.

Most businesses in New Hampshire are small employers whose wellbeing is intimately tied to the strength of their local economy and the fortunes of their customers. Lower wages mean fewer nights out, fewer ice cream cones bought for our children, fewer gifts at Christmas and birthdays. They mean waiting another year to fix the muffler on our car or replace our old winter coat. Ultimately, by paying their employees more, local businesses fare better.

It’s been argued that raising the minimum wage will force employers to reduce hours for their employees or lay them off. That this will happen to a degree large enough to hurt our economy is, at this point, simple speculation. A 2010 study from economists at the University of North Carolina, University of Massachusetts, and University of California-Berkeley found “no detectable employment losses from the kind of minimum wage increases we have seen in the United States”.

The reason for that is quite simple – a minimum wage means customers with more money in their pockets.

As Governor Hassan and our Legislature come to an agreement over the state budget, they will be asked to make a lot of tough decisions on how to foster economic development in New Hampshire with the resources we have available.

What they choose to fund is ultimately a reflection of their priorities. Yet they should keep in mind that the minimum wage offers a simple way to foster economic development without spending resources from the state.

Ultimately, the debate over the minimum wage comes down to the type of economy that we want. Do we want an economy that relies on subsidizing the employers who pay their workers the least? Or do we want one that recognizes that every worker’s toil is worthy of a living wage?

Jobs should keep Granite Staters out of poverty, not in it. It is time to reinstate the minimum wage and create a path to prosperity for workers and their families.

Why Raising Th Minimum Wage Is A No Brainer

  By Matt Murray | February 20, 2013 - 7:10 pm |
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from http://standupfl.org/event/national-raise-the-wage-day/

What do we want? A stronger middle class! When do we want it? NOW!

Every politician made claims that they want to strengthen the middle class. Now it is time to put up or shut up!

Durning the State of the Union address the President made a call to raise the minimum wage to $9.00 an hour by the end of 2015.  A raise that is far overdue.

Workers have been pushed down for too long, and now the middle class is shrinking.  Overall wages have been stagnent and by not raising the bottom line all workers have been effected.  Raising the minimum wage will in turn lift all wages.

Raising the minimum wage will automatically boost the wages of 15 million people.   Locally that would help at least 15,000 minimum wage earners.  The numbers vary because there are 42,000 tipped employees who are currently paid $2.13 per hour as a base.  Lifting the wage will ensure that working families do not live in poverty.  Isn’t that what the minimum wage law was designed to do?

I also agree with President Obama that we need to create an automatic increase to the minimum wage to ensure that wages rise with inflation.  President Obama proposes that we tie minimum wage to the cost of living index.

Since everyone agrees that poverty is a major issue in the United States, raising the minium wage should be the first thing we do to combat poverty.

Raising the wage should be a no brainer for both sides of the aisle.  Republicans want people off government assistance programs and Democrats want people to earn a living wage. Raising the minimum wage will do both.  It will also increase the taxes coming into the government, while decreasing spending on assistance programs. It is a total win-win.

Now that people are no longer living in poverty our economy will start to improve on its own, because people once again have money to spend.

Time To Raise NH Minimum Wage (from InZane Times)

  By Arnie Alpert | January 30, 2013 - 10:05 am | ,
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money lock

Republished from InZane Times, By Arnie Alpert and Judy Elliot.

Judy and I wrote this one together.  It was published yesterday in the Concord Monitor.  We both testified at the public hearing, along with other advocates for low-wage workers.  The full force of the business lobby and the House Republicans were arrayed on the other side.  This is a good time to contact members of the House Labor Committee to support raising the minimum wage.

When the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, the minimum wage went up in 10 states. But not New Hampshire, where the minimum wage is stuck at the federal level and the state’s minimum wage was abolished by the Legislature two years ago. Without change at the state level, thousands of New Hampshire workers will have to wait for the gridlocked Congress to raise the federal minimum wage above the current rate, $7.25 an hour.

What does it mean to live on $7.25 an hour? If you work 40 hours a week every week of the year, your annual income will be $15,080. Enough to live on? Not by a long shot. You’ll earn $4,000 less than the poverty-level income for a family of three. And even the poverty income is less than you need to keep a roof over your head. At the minimum wage, you’d have to work 106 hours a week to afford a typical two-bedroom New Hampshire apartment, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Help could be on the way.

Two bills coming before the House Labor Committee today would re-establish the state’s authority to set a minimum wage and raise it above the federal level. Rep. Tim Robertson of Keene is sponsoring House Bill 241 to establish a New Hampshire minimum wage of $9.25. HB127, co-sponsored by Reps. Peter Sullivan of Manchester and Timothy Horrigan of Durham, would set the minimum wage at $8 per hour.

In 1949 New Hampshire established a state minimum wage, though it seldom rose above the federal rate. But the state law was repealed in 2011. “There is no reason for New Hampshire to set ourselves higher than the national average and make ourselves less competitive for these workers who need to gain experience,” then-House Speaker Bill O’Brien said at the time.

No detectable employment losses

But would employers really hire fewer workers if the wage went up? Research suggests otherwise. Recent research by a team of economists from the Universities of California, Massachusetts and North Carolina “suggest no detectable employment losses from the kind of minimum wage increases we have seen in the United States.”

Why? Wouldn’t higher wages make it harder for businesses employing low-wage workers to earn a profit? Not necessarily. Raising wage rates tends to reduce employee turnover, reduce the costs of recruiting and training, and raise productivity. As Henry Ford discovered a century ago, increasing wages can be profitable.

Some opponents say it is mainly teens who earn minimum wage. Not true. Many of New Hampshire’s lowest-wage workers have families to support. Although we lack state-level statistics, we know that teens comprise only a quarter of minimum wage workers nationally.

Who will benefit from an increase? While most New Hampshire workers earn more than $8 an hour, plenty of workers would see their incomes rise. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 14,000 New Hampshire workers earn $7.25 per hour or less.

Raising the wage also will help thousands of workers now earning above $7.25 per hour. For example, a worker who currently earns $7.75 per hour will get a raise if the minimum wage goes up to $8.

Even people with somewhat higher wages will benefit. This is because many employers intentionally keep their pay a certain margin above the minimum in order to compete for employees.

HB 127 has an important additional feature, a process to raise the minimum wage as the cost of living increases. This is critical. The federal minimum wage would be $10.58 per hour now if it had kept up with inflation over the past 40 years.

Two more minimum wage bills – one in the House and one in the Senate – will come up soon.

Raising the minimum wage will not eliminate poverty in New Hampshire. But it will make a concrete difference in the lives of thousands of people struggling to earn a living. Every New England state except New Hampshire has a minimum wage above the federal level. Our workers deserve better pay for their hard work.

Raising The Minimum Wage Is The Way To Help Our Economy Grow

  By Matt Murray | January 27, 2013 - 11:00 am | , ,
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Minimum Wage Vs Rent

There is an intense debate in State Houses and in the US Congress over the minimum wage.

The pro-corporate GOP are saying that we do not need to raise the minimum wage because it will hinder the ‘job creators’ and the economic recovery.  The truth is that raising the minimum wage will help the economy recover.

I am happy to hear that here in my home state of NH there are two bills to push the minimum wage up.  The first, HB 127 (Rep Sullivan) would raise the wage to $8.00 per hour.  The second, HB 241 (from Rep. Tim Robertson) would raise the wage to $9.25 per hour.

There has been a lot of research on raising the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour for the Federal minimum.  ”The Economic Policy Institute estimates that President Obama’s campaign proposal of restoring the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2011 would generate $60 billion in new consumer spending in communities across the country (RaiseTheWage.org).”

Sixty billion in new revenue would do wonders to our economy.  This is what economists have been trying to explain since the recession began.  We need to put money in the hand of workers at the lower and middle class levels so they can spend it.  When workers have money to spend, they will, and this is exactly what drives our small business economy.

I am not sure if either of these bills will make it through the Republican controlled Senate, however I would be happy if either was enacted.

“Economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago have found that every $1 increase in the minimum wage boosts consumer spending by a low-wage worker’s household by $2,800 over the following year (RaiseTheWage.org).”

Multiply the $2,800 dollars spent by the over 50,000 New Hampshire workers who are paid minimum wage.  This is over $140,000,000 to the New Hampshire economy. If we enact HB 241 ($9.25 per hour) that would mean $280 million dollars more pushed into the NH economy.

I am sure that someone is thinking; ‘If we raise the minimum wage it will mean that business will have to cut jobs’.  This is another myth pushed by the corporate lobbyists like the Chamber of Commerce.  Many studies have proven that this is simply not true.  ”A study published in April 2011 found that these results (no significant job losses) hold true even during periods of recession and high unemployment.”

The truth is that the minimum wage was create as another safety net to help keep people out of poverty and off of government assistance programs.  This is not the case at the moment.  For example the national poverty level for a family of four (two adults, two children) is $23,021.  At the current minimum wage ($15,000 per year) both parents would have to work 40 hours a week, just to exceed that poverty level.   However the cost of living in New Hampshire is very different than the national average.  According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) researchers a family of four would need to make $55,609 ($4,600 a month) to not live in poverty. At minimum wage both parents would have to work 80 hours a week to exceed the $55,000 mark (after taxes).

So when we talk about the minimum wage, we should be talking about the minimum living wage.  I hope that our state legislators truly understand what it takes to survive in our state.  They also must understand that raising the minimum wage in our state only helps our economy.

66% of Low Wage Workers Work In Large Companies Who Are Making Tons Of Money!

  By Matt Murray | November 26, 2012 - 8:44 pm |
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CEO and Stock Payouts (NELP Data)

How many times do I have to say it, the corporations are keeping workers down!  When we talk about pay and benefits someone always says, ‘raising the minimum wage will hurt the small businesses’.  Well that is a complete crock of @#^*.

This week new evidence came out that overwhelmingly tells a different story.  The National Employment Law Project.

The majority (66 percent) of low-wage workers are not employed by small businesses, but rather by large corporations with over 100 employees.

So while workers are losing money to the rising cost of living and their corporate bosses are raking in the money.

We already knew that Walmart is the best at being the worst.  Last year they paid out 11 Billion in dividends and share buybacks, all while their workers are struggling to put food on the table. Some of these workers have to rely on food stamps to feed their families.

Who are the worst offenders when it comes to low wage jobs?

  1. Walmart
  2. Yum Brands (Taco Bell, KFC, Pepsi)
  3. McDonalds
  4. Target
  5. Sears
  6. Subway
  7. Burger King
  8. Aramark
  9. Starbucks
  10. Applebees / IHOP

Of these top ten offenders, Sears was the only one who has not been profitable since 2008.  However the CEO of Sears only made 9 million last year.

24-7 Wall Street.com put this list together with information about how much the CEO made last year and how many employees they have.

While Congress is working on the “Grand Bargain” over Medicare, and Social Security they should do something that will have a huge and immediate effect on the economy.  Raise the minimum wage.   Even if you only raise it to $10 per hour right now, it need to go up and it needs to go up quickly.

Did you know that Congress has only voted to raise the minimum wage three times in the last 30 years?  Or did you know that the annual salary for a minimum wage worker is $15,080?  Find out more at Raise The Minimim Wage .Com