Return to EPI Newsroom | Browse news by TOPIC | Browse archived news by DATE | Search archived news releases by KEYWORD

NewsFlash: October 12, 2006

Minimum Wage – To Index Or Not To Index?

On Election Day, voters in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, and Ohio will decide whether to raise their state’s minimum wage and to include automatic cost of living indexing that would prevent the wage’s purchasing power from eroding over time. If all six of those ballot measures are approved, it will bring the total number of states with a minimum wage above the $5.15 federal level to 28 plus the District of Columbia, and the number of states with built-in indexing to 10.

“Securing the Wage Floor” — a new analysis by Michael Ettlinger, the Economic Policy Institute’s EARN Director — examines the impact of indexing and explores the various indexing options open to lawmakers. The report lays out the argument for indexing and addresses the arguments most commonly made against it. 

Click  here  for the release, which contains a link to the report.