Minimum wage

If Republicans stop a wage hike at the federal level, they may be welcoming a barrage of minimum wage ballot initiatives that not only would allow states to forge ahead on their own, but also would increase progressive voter turnout.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research’s John Dewitt looked at what the minimum wage would be if it simply rose with productivity since 1968, and found that it would be almost 3 times what it is now.

President Obama repeats many of the themes from Tuesday night's State of the Union address while speaking to people at a manufacturing plant in Asheville, North Carolina Wednesday.

Christie vetoed the bill that 82 percent of voters in a recent Quinnipiac poll supported.

Even before Obamacare, fast food corporations kept much of their workforce at part-time status as a means of minimizing labor costs and maximizing profits.

Because the federal minimum wage is not tied to inflation it loses buying power in most years. If Congress does not act, it is projected to lose 20 percent of its real value in the next 10 years. The federal minimum wage would now be $10.58 if it had kept pace with the cost of living since its peak of purchasing power in 1968.

Following Travis County, Texas’ passage of an ordinance requiring any company moving to the county and receiving a tax break to pay their workers a minimum of $11, the City of Austin is weighing a similar deal. This would raise wages for construction workers in Austin who currently have a prevailing wage of $7.50 per hour and marks a possible change in Texas construction policy where workers are generally subject to incredibly low wages.

Today, the New Jersey Senate passed a bill raising the minimum wage to $8.50 an hour and would include a cost of living adjustment. The bill, which has already passed in the General Assembly, goes back to the Assembly on Monday to match the language of the Senate bill. It will then go to Governor Christie's desk for signature.

Our Quote of the Day today is via Steve Sweeney:
"If you live in New Jersey, you recognize that $7.25 isn't getting it done. It's basically keeping people in poverty."
Coming up this afternoon in the Senate Budget Committee is a discussion of Sweeney's plan to pass the question of raising the minimum wage to the voters as a constitutional amendment, then continuing on a schedule of raises. Christie, who's spent a year pinning the Jersey Comeback mantle o...