As Georgia’s economy struggles to rebound, some might wonder if this is the time to raise the minimum wage.
With gridlock in Congress and finger-pointing in campaign debates, there is one issue on which Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, President Barack Obama, five Nobel laureate economists and a decisive majority of voters (nearly 75 percent across all parties, races and income levels) agree:
Yes, it’s time.
Why the overwhelming public support? Because full-time minimum wage earners, 75 percent of whom are over age 20, earn less than $300 per week. They are security guards and child care workers. They pick our vegetables, care for our elderly and clean our homes.
However, their jobs trap them in poverty rather than lift them out of it. As Americans, we believe in the value of work. Raising the minimum wage declares that we value work over welfare as a road to economic recovery.
Why now? It’s the economy, silly. Raising the minimum wage will allow us to work our way out of the recession. Put money in hands of low-wage families. They will spend it on shoes, groceries and diapers in their local communities.
Weak consumer demand prevents businesses from adding jobs. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago notes that every dollar per hour increase in the minimum wage results in an extra $2,800 per year in spending. Two recent studies show that minimum wage increases in times of high unemployment — including this recession — did not and do not cause job loss or slow rehiring.
Why raise the minimum wage in Georgia? Because in Georgia, tipped workers still earn just $2.13 an hour plus tips. That’s right. While the costs of a MARTA card, a gallon of milk or gas have nearly doubled since 1999, the hourly wage for servers has not budged. Georgia is among a minority of states that have not raised their tipped worker minimum wage. This is not for a lack of public support.
In 2006, a UGA poll found that more than 80 percent of white rural male Republicans in Georgia supported increasing the minimum wage. Legislation introduced in the state House and Senate had bipartisan support. More than 60 organizations that make up the Georgia Minimum Wage Coalition, which represents more than 100,000 members of faith, labor and community organizations, supported these bills. Similar coalitions were successful in passing state minimum-wage increases in North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri and Florida.
The good news is that there are several efforts under way. U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., has introduced the WAGES Act, which would restore the value of the minimum wage for tipped workers at 60 percent of the federal minimum wage, (which would be $4.25 an hour) and ensure that it is raised with every increase in the regular federal minimum wage.
This legislative session, Rep. Rashad Taylor, D-Atlanta, plans to introduce a bill to raise the state minimum wage to $8.25 an hour and eliminate the tipped-worker wage. In seven other states, tipped workers now earn the same base wage as other minimum wage workers.
Let’s raise the minimum wage so all workers, including tipped workers, can earn enough money to feed themselves, their families and the economy.
Vanessa Faraj is Atlanta organizer of 9to5, the National Association of Working Women. Cindia Cameron is national organizer for 9to5, the National Association of Working Women.
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