03-10-14 Council Agenda & Packet

Home Browse Search

FACT SHEET - Opportunity For All: Rewarding Hard Work I The White House Page 2 of 2 wage for working Americans in stages to $10.10 and index it to inflation thereafter, while also raising the minimum wage for tipped workers for the first time in over 20 years. The President will also continue to support and encourage state, local and private sector efforts to increase wages and help more working families. • Businesses like Costco have supported past increases to the mIn[mum wage because it helps build a strong workforce and profitability over the long run. Low wages are also bad for business, as paying low wages lowers employee morale, encourages low productivity, and leads to frequent employee tumover —all of which impose costs. • Across the country, Americans are saying It's time to raise the minimum wage. The President believes that it's time for action, and people across the country agree. Since the President called for an increase in the minimum wage in last year's State of the Union, five states have passed laws increasing their minimum wage. And many businesses, from small businesses to large corporations, see higher wages as the right way to boost productivity and reduce turnover and therefore boost their profitability. • Raising the minimum wage is good for government, good for business and workers and key to a stranger economy. A range of economic studies show that modestly raising the minimum wage increases earnings and reduces poverty without jeopardizing employment. Higher wages can also boost productivity, increase morale, reduce costs and improve efficiency. • Raising the minimum wage will make sure no family of four with a full -time worker has to raise their children in poverty. It has been seven years since Congress last acted to increase the minimum wage and, adjusted for inflation, today the real value of minimum wage is roughly the same as what it was in the 1950s, despite the fact that the typical American family's income has doubled since then. And right now a full -time minimum wage worker makes $14,500 a year, which leaves too many families struggling to make ends meet. Even after accounting for programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit, a family of four supported by a minimum wage worker still ends up living below the poverty line. • Indexing the minimum wage to inflation would help lower- income workers keep up in the future. Since it was first established in 1938, the minimum wage has been increased 22 times, but was eroded substantially over severe) prolonged periods between increases because of inflation. Indexing would prevent a repeat of the 34 percent decline in the real value of the minimum wage from 197810 1989 and the 19 percent decline in real value from 1998 to 2006, as well as the 40 percent decline in the real value of the base wage for tipped workers since it was last raised in 1991. Last year alone, workers coming the minimum wage basically got the equivalent of a $200 pay wt because the minimum wage stayed the same while the cost of living went up. Democrats and Republicans agree that indexing the minimum wage to inflation would ensure that working families can keep up with expenses. Unfortunately. those families will continue suffer if Congress continues to not ad. Helping parents make ends meet Around 60 percent of workers who would benefit from a higher minimum wage are women. Less than 20 percent are teenagers. Also, those workers who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage brought home 46 percent of their households total wage and salary income in 2011. Raising the minimum wage directly helps parents make ends meet and support their families. En eaparwl AV.essibilily Copyrgal lnlorma� ion Privacy PO:iry Con1aG USA.gov Derelop, Apptylota Job http: / /www.whitehouse.gov /the - press - office/ 2014 /02/l2/ fact - sheet - opportunity - all - rewardin... 3/5/2014