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Minimum wage woes. (Correction, Please!).(Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich considers minimum wage increase)
ITEM: "Organized labor and a passel of politicians turned on the pressure ... to push for an increase in Illinois' minimum hourly wage from $5.15 to $6.50," reported the Chicago Sun-Times for March 31st. "'Someone who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, and earns $10, 712 deserves more money, deserves a raise,' said [Illinois Democratic Governor Rod] Blagojevich."
CORRECTION: The same story tried to put a human face on the minimum wage issue by reporting:
Domingo Vargas, 48, said he's struggling to raise five children ... on $5.15 an hour as a day laborer. "I want them to go to school, to have an education, to go to college," Vargas, a native of Puebla, Mexico, said through a translator. "I feel despair."
Governor Rod Blagojevich and other advocates of a higher minimum wage would have us believe a wave of a public-policy magic wand will generate manna for this laborer trotted out as a prop. We wonder if the governor will be inviting Mr. Vargas to a press conference when a mandatory hike causes many of the poorest workers -perhaps including this non-English-speaking immigrant - to lose their jobs.
Studies show that for every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage, a minimum of 100,000 jobs is lost, when employers find it unprofitable to hire marginal unskilled labor. After all, if the law of supply and demand really can be repealed, why stop with a $1.35 raise? If legislation can ensure prosperity, why not make the minimum $20 an hour? Or $200?
Mr. Vargas ...
- Minimum wage - does anyone care anymore?
- Magazine article from: The Mississippi Business Journal Northway, Wally June 22, 2009 700+ words
...President George W. Bush signed the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which amended the Fair Labor Standards...incremental increase in the national minimum wage, emotions ran high. Some Mississippians...took up the debate of crafting a state minimum wage law. The national minimum ...
- Minimum wage made by male in early 20s.
- Newspaper article from: Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT) December 15, 2006 700+ words
...year-long study on who is earning minimum wage in Utah commissioned by Gov. Jon Huntsman...are most likely to earn more than the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. But the findings...government was going to [raise the minimum wage], should we not step aside and let...
- Minimum wage--does anyone care anymore? Next hike drawing little attention.
- Magazine article from: Mississippi Business Journal Northway, Wally June 22, 2009 700+ words
...President George W. Bush signed the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which amended the Fair Labor Standards...incremental increase in the national minimum wage, emotions ran high. Some Mississippians...took up the debate of crafting a state minimum wage law. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The ...
- MINIMUM WAGE BILL'S FATE IFFY \ AMENDMENTS CLOUD PICTURE.(News)
- Newspaper article from: The Kentucky Post (Covington, KY) Steitzer, Stephenie February 10, 2006 700+ words
...basement if Kentucky lawmakers raised the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.50...afford to buy gas. Bills to increase the minimum wage have gone nowhere in the past several...Kentucky is one of 25 states that set the minimum wage the same as the federal minimum ...
- Minimum wage divides economists, but few see it as critically important.(A)
- Newspaper article from: The Washington Times Sands, David R. April 3, 1996 700+ words
...whether to raise the $4.25-an-hour minimum wage, they'll be entering a battlefield...employment effects of raising the mandatory minimum wage, experts even disagree about how much...spectrum would tell you that increasing the minimum wage in this economy would result in very...
- Minimum wage issue has been politically charged from start.(Originated from...
- Newspaper article from: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service Zaldivar, R.A. May 21, 1996 700+ words
...are leading this year's fight for a minimum-wage increase, but when Congress passed...the time _ opposed a government-set minimum wage. The fledgling Congress of Industrial...The unions were very much against the minimum wage,'' said Edward Berkowitz, a historian...
- MINIMUM-WAGE JOBS ENABLE SURVIVAL, BUT LITTLE ELSE
- Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe Ellen J. Bartlett, Globe Staff March 29, 1987 700+ words
...cracking eggs and frying hamburgers for minimum wage brings her less than $150 a week...employment agencies citywide that the minimum wage is obsolete. But the 30-year-old...nothing of this. She has worked for minimum wage since she arrived in the United States...
- Minimum wage increase helps state's working class.
- Newspaper article from: Erie Times-News (Erie, PA) July 23, 2006 700+ words
...legislation to increase the state's minimum wage was signed into law on July 1. The minimum wage goes up to $6.25 an hour on Jan. 1...Meadville. "For people working at or near minimum wage, this has got to improve their lives...
Source: HighBeam Research, Minimum wage woes. (Correction, Please!).(Illinois Governor Rod...