The promise of America is, if you work hard, you should be able to support yourself and your family. An adequate minimum wage is a necessary step to providing that.  Yet, many thousands of Georgians are not covered by the minimum wage. 

States are Taking Action

Thirty one states, plus the District of Columbia have passed state minimum wage rates ranging from $6 - $8/hr. 

 

Southern states – including North Carolina, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Florida have increased state minimum wages.

 

Active minimum wage campaigns in Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi and Virginia are drawing broad public support.

 

While our state as a whole prospers, thousands of Georgia families are struggling to meet the rising costs of healthcare, gasoline, and housing – and falling farther and farther behind.  Visit the U.S. Department of Labor’s website to see how Georgia’s minimum wage compares with other states’. 

 

Researchers now believe that minimum wage increases do not hamper employment or cause price increases because some of the additional cost to employers is offset by decreased absenteeism, increased productivity, decreased training costs, and higher morale.

Source: Economic Policy Institute.. Facts at a Glance. July 2008

Earning the minimum wage means earning a poverty wage.  Whether at the state or federal level, a minimum wage job equals poverty for many families.  Working 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year in a $5.15 per hour minimum wage job produces an annual income of $10,712.  Boosting that wage to the current federal minimum wage of $6.55 produces an income of $13,624.  For families headed by single parents, these incomes equal poverty incomes.  A singer person or two-parent family with both parents earning $5.15 per hour can just reach the poverty threshold or can slightly surpass poverty by earning $6.55 per hour.  (Strengthening the Foundation, GBPI 2008)

 

An increase in the minimum wage would impact workers of all ages, race, gender, and family compositions.  A common myth about the minimum wage is that only teenagers work in minimum wage jobs.  On the contrary, thousands of Georgians of varying ages work at or near the minimum wage.  An estimated 85% of workers affected by an increase are 20 years or older.  An estimated 51% of affected workers are full-time employees.  (Strengthening the Foundation, GBPI 2008)

 

Higher minimum wages are good for job growth.

A March 2006 study finds that states with minimum wage rates higher than the federal rate have stronger overall employment and small business employment than states with the federal rate.  The number of small businesses also grew faster in states with higher minimum wage rates.

 

The majority of minimum wage earners are adults.

The largest group to benefit from a minimum wage increase (43%) are adult women.  Minimum wage earners contribute more than 50% of their families’ earnings.   More than 1/3 of those who would benefit from a $2 increase in the minimum wage are sole providers for their family.

 

Public opinion and small business supports raising the minimum wage

· A 2006 University of Georgia poll found that 90% of respondents support an increase in the minimum wage.  This includes 80% or more of white, male, rural, and Republican respondents.

Source: UGA Survey Research Center, Sept. 2006

 

· A 2006 Gallup poll showed that nearly 50% of all small business owners favor increasing the minimum wage.  A vast majority agree that a higher minimum wage would attract and retain better workers, and that pay increases to low-wage families benefit local businesses and communities.

Source: March 2006 Survey of Small Business Owners, Gallup Organization for Wells Fargo

 

States with minimum wages above the federal level

saw employment and payroll growth in small businesses

A 2006 report by the Fiscal Policy Institute found that total job growth was faster in the higher minimum wage states.  They found faster job growth occurring in the retail trade sector, and the sector of the economy employing the most workers at low wages in those states with higher minimum wages.  Small businesses may have benefited from some combination of higher productivity through improved worker retention and savings on recruitment and training.

 

Data from 1998 to 2003 shows that the number of small businesses across the economy with fewer than 50 employees grew by 5.4% in the higher minimum wage states, compared to a 4.2% increase for the balance of the states. 

 

As a group, in the higher minimum wage states, small businesses had faster job growth (6.7% vs. 5.4%) than the other 40 states combined.

                                                                    Source: Fiscal Policy Institute, March 2006

 

“The increase in the minimum wage is long overdue.

Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do but it makes for good business."

-Jim Sinegal, CEO, Costco

Raising the Minimum Wage as an Economic Recovery Strategy

From Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign

 

Raising the Minimum Wage boosts business and the economy: Workers are also consumers. Consumer spending makes up about 70% of our economy.  Minimum wage raises go directly to those who need to spend their increased income on food, healthcare, fuel, and other necessities.  They recycle their raises back into local businesses and the economy.

 

The Minimum Wage and employment trends:  Contrary to what critics predicted when the minimum wage was raised in 1996 and 1997, our economy had unusually low unemployment, high growth, low inflation, and declining poverty rates between 1996 and 2000.  In fact, unemployment fell from 5.6% in 1995 to 4% in 2000.