Raising Minimum Wage Would Spark Job Creation, Boost Economic Growth
Reading, PA- Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Chairman of the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, called on Congress to raise the national minimum wage by passing the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013. During a press conference at City Hall in Reading, Casey detailed how increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation will offer a lift up the ladder to the middle class and boost the economy by stimulating new spending.
“Six years have passed since the last minimum wage increase was enacted. Pay for the middle class is stagnant while the gap between the haves and have nots widens,” said Senator Casey. “That is why I support legislation to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour and to thereafter index the wage to inflation. This will be an important step to address an imbalance that can cause a full-time worker trying to support their family to be paid below the poverty level.”
Today, the purchasing power of the minimum wage is down 30% from its peak in 1968. Adjusting for inflation, the 1968 minimum wage would be more than $10.50 today. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour and to thereafter index the wage to inflation, an important step to address an imbalance that can cause a full-time worker trying to support their family to be paid below the poverty level.
Currently, 15.7 million children in the U.S., or more than one out of five children, have at least one parent who would receive a raise if the Fair Minimum Wage Act were passed. 8.5 million parents across the country would receive a raise if the Fair Minimum Wage Act were passed – the average parent affected by this bill contributes nearly 60 percent of their entire family income.
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