New York Times on the Working Poor and a Fair Wage

Last week, as the federal minimum wage marked its 75th anniversary, New York Times OpEd Assistant Editor Adam Cohen reviewed the challenging history and the current state of the minimum wage as it relates to today's working families:

In 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act ... creating a mandatory federal minimum wage.

The new law was enormously effective: within a year, it brought millions of low-paid workers up to a wage of 30 cents an hour. It also had major weaknesses, notably that it was not indexed to inflation. Congress has to raise it, which leaves low-income workers at the mercy of politics.

The minimum wage continues to have powerful enemies. Businesses that pay low wages lobby strongly against increases, arguing that they cause jobs to disappear. The Bush administration has been hostile. When Elaine Chao was nominated to be the next labor secretary, she called for states to be able to opt out of the federal minimum wage — which would destroy the whole idea of a national minimum wage.

Cohen points out that while victories have been won to raise the minimum wage, the recent increase to $7.25 per hour -- which will go into effect in 2009 -- is still "far below where it was in the 1960s, in real dollars...and a family of three earning the 2009 minimum wage would still be well below the federal poverty line."

After 75 years, is that really progress we can celebrate?

Read the full article here

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