NationStates

The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage. The minimum wage must become a living wage- which means raising it to $15 an hour by 2020 and tying it to cost of living increases in the future. And we must also close the loophole that allows employers to pay workers who get tips -waiters, waitresses, bartenders, barbers, hairdressers, taxi drivers, car wash assistants, valet parking attendants a shamefully low $2.13 an hour. These changes would benefit more than seventy-five million workers and their families. It would help to address racial inequity, giving a boost to the 54 percent of African American workers and nearly 60 percent of Hispanic. workers who earn less than $15 an hour. According to the most recent statistics, women make up almost two-thirds of all minimum wage workers. Increasing the minimum wage would also significantly boost the wages of more than fifteen million women currently making above the minimum wage but less than $15 an hour. In some places, the American people are demanding change. The cities of Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C., are all raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The states of California and New York, two of the largest in our country did the same. As a result of these efforts, ten-million workers in America will have their wages raised to $15 an hour. This not only helps the ten million workers who get a pay raise but also provides a much needed boost for our economy. One measure of a country''s economic health is its gross domestic product, the value of all the goods produced in the country and the services provided by its citizens in a year. Today, 70 percent of our GDP is dependent upon the purchasing power of consumers. If millions of American workers have no money available to purchase goods and services, the economy falters. On the other hand if workers have money in their pockets, they spend that money in grocery stores, restaurant, and businesses throughout this country all this new business gives companies a reason to expand and hire new workers.[/b] This is a win win for our economy[/b]