Pay Hike! Obama Proposes $9 Minimum Wage, Income Equality

4 months ago

Moderate increase would help slow the widening socioeconomic gaps

Nine dollars! Why not $10 or $12? President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, boldly proposed an increase in the federal minimum wage. The president called for an additional $1.75 per hour for cooks, janitors, and other low-wage workers. The current wage is $7.25. The minimum wage proposal is an attempt to address the country’s staggering levels of income inequality; but it does not, when adjusted for inflation, reach the peak experienced in the 1960s and 1970s. In other words, although $9 would be the highest in three decades, that ain’t enough. Obama, however, is proposing that the federal floor on hourly wages be tied to inflation so that it rises along with the lost of living. That’s certainly welcomed news for fast food workers across the country, who late last year joined with labor unions and staged strikes to demand pay increases. As expected, Obama proposal sent conservatives and liberals running to their corners, either to praise the idea or decry its burden on job creators. (New York Times)