US senator Bernie Sanders announced a bill on Thursday to raise the national minimum wage to US$17 an hour, reigniting the battle for better pay standards as workers see COVID-19-era gains erased by runaway inflation.
The US$7.25 federal floor has not increased since 2009, and the dollar has since lost almost a third of its purchasing power, the Economic Policy Institute said.
Sanders, a two-time presidential candidate, has been campaigning for years for a minimum-wage increase, but has been rebuffed by the US Congress amid opposition from conservatives who fear harming small business and worsening inflation.
Photo: Reuters
“In the year 2023, in the richest country in the history of the world, nobody should be forced to work for starvation wages,” said the self-described democratic socialist. “It’s not a radical idea. If you work 40, 50 hours a week, you should not be living in poverty. It is time to raise the minimum wage to a living wage.”
Sanders, chairman of the US Senate’s powerful Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said his members would finalize legislation in June for a US$17 minimum wage phased in over five years.
Raising America’s lowest salaries is one of US President Joe Biden’s top policy goals, but a group of Democratic senators joined Republicans in 2021 to thwart a Sanders proposal for a US$15 per hour base.
It is not clear that this new attempt would gain favor either, but a defiant Sanders — flanked by workers, trade union leaders and a leading economist — urged his colleagues in the US Congress to try living for a month on US$7.25 an hour.
Widespread public support for a minimum-wage increase, even in the most conservative parts of the country, has been demonstrated repeatedly over the past decade, as a dozen states have held successful votes to raise the wage floor.
Florida, where the governor and its two US senators are Republican, voted for a US$15 minimum in 2020, while in last year’s midterm election, two states that elected Republican governors, Nebraska and Nevada, also approved increases.
The COVID-19 pandemic boosted US wages, with companies facing serious labor shortages. Walmart, Costco, Amazon, Target and Chipotle pushed their hourly base close to or beyond US$15, while Apple and Bank of America went up to US$22.
The increases appeared significant, but economists said they would slow as more people returned to work.
About 35 million US workers still earn less than US$17 an hour, Sanders said.
Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, said minimum wage increases have been shown to reduce poverty and inequality, child abuse, teen pregnancy and suicide — without substantial job losses.
“When you raise the minimum wage, it makes our economy stronger,” she told reporters. “The policies of the last four-plus decades that have increased inequality... have also slowed overall economic growth.”
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