The Anti 9-to-5 Guide » Wow, 70 more cents an hour?!

Wow, 70 more cents an hour?!

July 24th, 2007

You’ll be hearing today about how the U.S. minimum wage finally rose from $5.15 to $5.85 an hour, its first increase in a decade and an end to the longest stretch of time without a federal minimum wage hike since the law hit the books in 1938.

BFD. It was hard to live on $12K a year twenty years ago when I was fresh out of school and sleeping on a futon on the floor (with no dependents). Imagine being a single mom trying to feed your kids on that pittance. And to those who say increasing the mimimum wage is bad for businesses, how the heck do you sleep at night, endorsing poverty-level pay? If a business can’t afford to pay an employee a fair living wage, they don’t have any business hiring an employee.

Looking forward to 2009, when the minimum wage rises to $7.25 an hour, which still won’t be enough to live on and is less than many middle-class kids currently get paid to babysit.

Entry Filed under: Overworked and underpaid

9 Comments Add your own

1. Clare | July 24th, 2007 at 7:18 am

That’s the federal minimum wage, right? I think many states have already passed higher minimum wage rates.

As of Jan 1, 2007, NY has a minimum wage rate of $7.15.
2. Michelle Goodman | July 24th, 2007 at 7:48 am

yes, the federal. thank god for my virtual copyeditors. updating the post now…
3. Liene | July 24th, 2007 at 8:23 am

that is ridiculous.
4. naomi | July 24th, 2007 at 3:43 pm

i went to the rally outside the capitol today for saying thanks for passing minimum wage bill. in between my starstruck-ness at seeing multiple members of congress on stage a few feet away from me, I was able to capture a bit of wisdom and good thoughts about the 70 cent raise. it translates to an extra $1500 in someone’s pocket a year with the first increase. And each increase in subsequent years is another $1500. so that’s good, for congress at least. i still found myself wondering why they don’t make the EITC a line item in the federal budget with an anuual increase of a few percentage points, but hey, that’s just me. random policy wonk!
5. Michelle Goodman | July 24th, 2007 at 10:01 pm

ok, i had to look up EITC. agree that every $1500 is better than nada. will you please write some blog posts for me?!
6. Kelly Livesay | July 25th, 2007 at 2:47 am

People don’t realize that the big fat .70 will go right back into the economy also, allowing for say an extra burger each month?

Our government is an embarrassment sometimes. Min wage should be what it costs one person to support themselves adequately: food, clothing, shelter, car, gas, insurance (since the government is retarded in this area as well).

If you want to know what it’s like, read Nickel and Dimed, an excellent book on living on minimum wage (which often requires living in your car).
7. Michelle Goodman | July 25th, 2007 at 6:05 am

I concur — great book!
8. Judy | July 27th, 2007 at 5:17 am

I don’t understand why we need a minimum wage which just provides a federal excuse for employers to pay non-skilled, inexperienced workers the same awful wage for years (say 10 years). Let the free market do its work. Employers that pay a awful wages…$5.85 an hour…won’t have enough employees that stick around to run their businesses.
9. chez shoes | July 30th, 2007 at 6:17 am

It’s like a federal mandate to keep poor people poor - to ensure that we have a steady supply of cannon fodder, and all that. Makes me so incredibly angry.