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Health & Fitness

Brownsberger Calls for Minimum Wage Increase

The federal minimum wage is only $7.25 an hour. Due to inflation, it is worth significantly less than decades ago. It’s not enough to support an individual, let alone a family, at even a minimal lifestyle. Most people working for the minimum are women and minorities. Massachusetts already has a state minimum wage of $8 an hour, one of eight states that have chosen to go above the federal requirement.


If elected to Congress I would advocate for substantially raising the minimum, such as through the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, because of the benefits that it would have for all low-wage workers. The Act would increase the minimum in three steps of 95 cents each, reaching $10.10 per hour two years after its passage. The Act  would then index the minimum wage to inflation in future years. Meanwhile, last February President Obama called for a smaller increase, to $9 an hour, also with indexing in the future.


Research by the Economic Policy Institute finds that raising the minimum to $10.10 by July 1, 2015 would yield wage increases for about 28 million workers, or 22 percent of the entire workforce. Of these, 19.5 million who were below the new minimum would get higher wages as a direct result of the legal change. Another 9 million people would see increases as an indirect result, because employers would see the need to raise wages of those workers who were just above $10.10 beforehand.

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Women comprise almost half the workforce today, but would be about 56 percent of those whose wages would rise. About half of those affected would be full-time workers, 85 percent would be above age 20, and 56 percent would be non-Hispanic Whites.


Some business leaders, such as those representing the fast-food industry, argue that raising the minimum wage will hurt the economy and workers, by causing businesses to lay off employees. Research by the Employment Policies Institute in 2006 argued that for every 10 percent increase in the minimum wage, teen employment at small businesses would decrease by 4.6 to 9.0 percent.

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In contrast, the White House cited research showing “no detectable employment losses from the kind of minimum wage increases we have seen in the United States.” Other experts, such as Professor Christopher Erickson of UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, say that while prices at fast-food chains may rise, as long as all restaurants face the same increase in wage levels, there won’t be much impact on demand or employment.


On the whole, I believe that raising the minimum wage would be one of the best measures we could take to reduce poverty and inequality in America. Helping to pass an increase would be one of my priorities as a new member of Congress.


Please don’t forget to vote on October 15!


You can reach me anytime at willbrownsberger@gmail.com or on my cell phone at 617-771-8274. Or go to my website and make a comment there. I’m glad to hear from you.


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