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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Strong Majority of Americans Say Raise Minimum Wage to $8 |
Current rating: 0 |
by Ms. Foundation for Women via ML
(No verified email address) |
18 Feb 2002
Modified: 05:53:05 PM |
More support for policies like the proposed Living Wage resolution that would eventually raise the wages of all full-time Champaign County employees to the current Living Wage of $8.49 an hour. This measure will be considered at the county board meeting on Monday, Feb. 25. Contact your county board representative to show your support of a Living Wage. Contact info for all board members is avialable at: http://www.co.champaign.il.us/countybd/cbmembers.htm
For more info on the Living Wage: http://www.prairienet.org/livingwage/ |
Strong Majority of Americans Say Raise Minimum Wage to $8 and Agree Government Has Responsibility to End Poverty
New York--In a new poll of likely voters, Americans overwhelmingly see raising the minimum wage as key to stimulating the economy and favor a much stronger government role in ending poverty and creating jobs.
By a resounding 77 percent, voters favor increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 to $8 an hour (57 percent strongly favor). The $8 figure has even more support than increasing the minimum wage to $6.65.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, every demographic group agrees that the minimum wage must be raised.
An overwhelming 79 percent favor regularly raising the minimum wage to keep up with inflation. Today's minimum wage workers earn 37 percent less than their counterparts did in 1968, adjusting for inflation.
"It's time for Washington's priorities to reflect the public's priorities," says Marie C. Wilson, President of the Ms. Foundation for Women. "Raising the minimum wage is long overdue."
The poll, conducted in January by Lake Snell Perry & Associates for the Ms. Foundation for Women, found that "the economy and jobs" is the biggest concern for voters (followed by education and retirement/Social Security).
Nine out of ten voters (86 percent) believe the federal government has a responsibility to try to do away with poverty (64 percent strongly agree). There is strong agreement across all demographic groups.
Americans know the federal poverty line is set unrealistically low. Half the voters believe a family of four needs an income of at least $45,000 a year to make ends meet. A quarter of voters (26 percent) said at least $35,000 and 10 percent said at least $25,000. By contrast, the U.S. Census Bureau sets the poverty line for a family of four at only about $18,000.
The poll findings are backed up by the recently published Ms. Foundation book, "Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies That Work For All Of Us", by Holly Sklar, Laryssa Mykyta and Susan Wefald. Raise the Floor finds that the national minimum needs budget for a family of four is about $40,000 (2001 dollars).
That amount provides for minimal housing, food, health care, child care and other basic expenses and covers federal and state taxes, factoring in tax credits such as the Earned Income Credit.
Voters believe the minimum wage should allow most working families to have an income that will allow them to afford basic needs. Now a couple with two children would have to work more than three full-time minimum wage jobs to make ends meet.
"Today's minimum wage just doesn't add up. Even a single worker needs $8 an hour," says Susan Wefald, Ms. Foundation Director of Institutional Planning. "In Raise the Floor we show that good wages are good business-in good economic times and bad."
Detailed poll findings and press copies of "Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies That Work For All Of Us" are available on request from the Ms. Foundation or at:
http://www.raisethefloor.org/pub.html
The Ms. Foundation for Women has been creating opportunities for women, girls and families for thirty years. Through grants, training and public education campaigns, we help strengthen the leadership and capacity of organizations that work with low-wage workers, welfare recipients and other disadvantaged groups. The Ms. Foundation is also an advocate for low-income women's issues in the philanthropic field. Creator of the award-winning Take Our Daughters To Work® Day program, the Ms. Foundation is also a recipient of a Presidential Award for Excellence in Microenterprise Development.
Lake Snell Perry & Associates designed and administered the poll, which was conducted by telephone using professional interviewers from January 12 to January 14, 2002. The survey reached a total of 800 adults ages 18 and over in the United States who indicated that they were registered and likely to vote. The sample was stratified geographically by state based on the distribution of registered voters in each state. The margin of error is +/-3.5%.
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See also:
http://www.ms.foundation.org/press-021202.html
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A Point Of Clarification |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
18 Feb 2002
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The proposed Living Wage for Champaign County applies to full-time employees of county government. If adopted, Champaign County would be the third local governmental unit to adopt a Living Wage.
The Living Wage is more restrictive than a general minimum wage increase as proposed in the above article and should not be confused with the minimum wage. The CCLWA is supportive of such efforts, as they are fully justified. However, it should be emphasized that the current proposal is is a more limited one. A Living Wage serves as an example for good policy, as historically government often takes the lead in implementing employment policies that are more generally adopted by private business later.
Also see this article for more information:
http://www.ucimc.org/front.php3?article_id=3984&group=webcast |
