Three years after last increase, business group calls for U.S. minimum wage hike

http://blogs.reuters.com/macroscope/2012/07/24/three-years-after-last-increase-business-group-calls-for-u-s-minimum-wage-hike/


By Ellen Freilich
July 24, 2012


Bucking the usual tune of private sector lobbyists, a group called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage is calling for a hike in the minimum wage, saying it would boost business and the economy.

Business for a Fair Minimum Wage is a project of Business for Shared Prosperity, which describes itself as a national network of “forward thinking” business owners and executives.

The last step of a three-step federal minimum wage increase went into effect on July 24, 2009. The $7.25 an hour current minimum wage comes to just $15,080 a year for full-time work, below the poverty line.

Said the business group in support of a wage hike:

That hourly wage gives today’s minimum wage workers far less buying power than their counterparts did in 1968 when the minimum wage was at its highest value of $10.55 adjusted for inflation.

. . . more