Media clips

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• $15 federal minimum wage in doubt as some lawmakers seek compromise

  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., dismissed the $10 proposal as “legislated poverty.” The Economic Policy Institute estimated the Romney-Cotton plan would only benefit 3.2% of the workforce, compared to more than 20% of workers who would see a raise if the federal minimum wage is increased to $15 per hour.

  Sinclair Broadcast Group March 1, 2021
• How raising minimum wage to $15 per hour could affect workers and small businesses

  Yet it’s “profoundly wrong” to characterize the minimum wage increase to $15 per hour as only benefitting teenagers, says Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist and director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute.

  That’s because there are many full-time, adult hourly employees who are earning just above the minimum wage, but still earning less than $15 per hour. Only about 1 in 10 of those who would benefit from a $15 minimum wage are teenagers, Shierholz says.

  In fact, EPI’s research shows that more than half of those who would benefit from a $15 federal minimum wage are workers between 25 and 54, the majority of whom are women. Over a quarter of those workers have children.

  “Raising the minimum wage is long overdue. Workers today who are paid the current federal minimum wage are paid more 30% less in inflation-adjusted terms than their counterparts were paid 53 years ago,” Shierholz says.

  CNBC March 1, 2021
• Economists say $11 vs. $15 minimum wage weighs politics against worker benefits

  But the calculator also showed that a lower minimum wage would not lift as many Americans out of poverty. An $11 or $12 wage increase would only reduce poverty by as many as 120,000 and 320,000 people, respectively.

  “Any of these lower targets would leave many more families in poverty and dramatically reduce the number of people who would get a pay increase,” said Ben Zipperer, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

  Zipperer pointed to a CBO analysis from 2019 that found a $12 minimum wage by 2025 would result in 11 million workers having higher earnings and 0.4 million fewer people in poverty. A $10 wage hike would mean 3.5 million people with higher earnings but essentially a zero reduction in poverty.

  “An $11 minimum wage today would represent essentially no improvement in living standards for the lowest-wage workers over the past 50 years,” Zipperer said. “This is completely unjustified given that the economy’s productivity has doubled over that time period. In fact, had we increased the minimum wage in line with productivity growth over that period, it would be over $20 today.”

  Newsweek March 1, 2021
• AOC calls GOP’s $10 minimum wage pitch ‘legislated poverty’ as Democrats push for $15

  The Economic Policy Institute has found that the minimum wage, if adjusted for inflation, should have exceeded $15 by 2020. It has not been raised since 2009.

  The Independent March 1, 2021
• Progressives vow to fight Manchin and Sinema holding up stimulus over $15 wage

  Progressives have also disputed Manchin’s claim that the lower wage hike would be better for his state, as some pointed to an Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report, which says that the minimum wage hike proposal would help lift the wages of about 255,000 workers in West Virginia and would especially benefit people of color.

  Truthout March 1, 2021
• Bernie Sanders: US sick of subsidizing ‘starvation wages’ at Walmart and McDonald’s

  A recent Congressional Budget Office concluded 27 million Americans would be affected by an increase in the minimum wage to $15, and that 900,000 would be lifted out of poverty. But the CBO also said the increase would lead to 1.4m job losses and increase the federal budget deficit by $54bn over the next 10 years. The Economic Policy Institute, and others, have called the report “wrong, and inappropriately inflated”.

  The Guardian March 1, 2021
• Workers making COVID test kits exposed to COVID

  In January alone, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, temporary jobs rose 80,900 to a total of 2.7 million, highlighting explosive growth.

  “Typically, temp work bounces back,” says Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, explaining the typical pattern during recessions. Temp jobs are traditionally the first to go, but also the first to return once the economy improves.

  The American Prospect March 1, 2021
• What Biden’s minimum-wage plan means for restaurant workers

  Prior to the pandemic, 3.9 million U.S. workers earned tips, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning think tank. Almost 80% of those worked in states that didn’t require them to be paid the full minimum wage, before tips. More than 60% of tipped workers were restaurant wait staff and bartenders.

  Wall Street Journal March 1, 2021
• Congress weighs raising federal minimum wage to $15 an hour

  Supporters said it would help close the gender and race pay gaps, and would likely raise wages for 27 million Americans.

  “Income inequality would shrink and nearly a million people would be pulled out of poverty,” said Heidi Shierholz, Senior Economist and Director of Policy at the Economic Policy Institute.

  WPXI-TV March 1, 2021
• A $15 minimum wage isn’t just about justice. It’s good economics

  The Economic Policy Institute, a progressive research group, predicts that if the minimum rises to $15, nearly one-third (31%) of African Americans and one-quarter (26%) of Latinos will receive a pay increase.

  The Guardian March 1, 2021