In his State of the Union speech, President Obama suggested raising the minimum wage for American workers from $7.25 to $9 per hour.
Senator Tom Harkin has also shown strong support for raising the minimum wage, introducing a bill in 2012 that would have raised the minimum wage to $9.80 per hour. Harkin’s bill would have given raises to tipped workers and indexed the minimum wage to inflation thereafter so that it would keep up with the rising cost of living.
According to an inflation calculator, the minimum wage paid to American workers has not exactly kept up with inflation over the years.
For example, the minimum wage in 1968 was $1.60. In today’s dollars, that is worth $10.56. However, today’s minimum wage of $7.25 is worth $5.44 in the year 2000, which is above the minimum wage at that time of $5.15.
Raising the minimum wage becomes a complicated matter when trying to measure the affect on business owners and any potential harm the move might cause them, not to mention a possible slow-down in hiring due to labor cost increases.
The future of Obama’s plan in Congress looks bleak, as Republicans immediately took aim at the idea. However, 19 states already require a higher minimum wage than the national rate.
Currently in the Iowa Legislature, there is a bill being discussed in subcommittee for an act to increase the state minimum hourly wage and to provide subsequent increases by the same percentage as the increase in federal social security benefits.
HF39 increases the state minimum hourly wage to $7.75 as of January 1, 2014, $8.25 as of July 1, 2014, and $9.00 as of January 1, 2015. The bill increases the state minimum hourly wage for employees employed for less than 90 days to $6.85 as of January 1, 2014, $7.35 as of July 1, 2014, and $8.10 as of January 1, 2015. The bill also increases the state minimum hourly wage, including the minimum hourly wage established for employees employed for less than 90 days, annually on July 1, beginning July 1, 2015, by the same percentage as the cost-of-living increase in social security benefits effective as of the previous December, as authorized by the federal social security administration.
The Iowa House of Representatives is controlled by Republicans.
The Iowa House looked at a bill in 2012 that would have raised the minimum wage for Iowa workers to $10.o0 per hour but it never made it out of committee discussions.
17 thoughts on “Raise minimum wage?”
Why have any minimum wage? I want to bring back slavery. Slavery was with us for most of our history. We should be able to own immigrants for say 5-10 years after which they can buy their freedom from you.
I am a small business owner with just 2 employees. I talked to another small business owner that has 4 employees and all of them are making minimum wage, according to her if this minimum wage goes through she will have to let 2 employees go because she will not be able to pay them.
Raise min. wage $1.75 per hour and she will have to let 2 people go that make $7.25. That math just doesn’t add up. That sounds like typical republican rhetoric.
I hate to bust your bubble happy but this other business owner is hard core democrat. When your business just makes enough to get by, the 1.75 as you say it times 4 is alot. This business and mine used to make enough money but with the economy the way it is sales has gone down. Plus with obamacare kicking in, got to make the cuts somewhere.
@maybe-I have two schools of thought on this subject. One is I know $1.25 p/hour which is $50.00 a week at 40 hours doesn’t seem like a lot of money but, to someone on minimum wage it IS a lot of money. That’s $200 to $250 p/month and that could make a huge difference in someones lifestyle. It would also give them some pride in themselves which is hard to put a price on. I know the business people say they would have to lay off as they can’t afford it but I seem to remember that they said the same thing the last time it was raised. They always seem to find a way. This time I must side with happy guy on this issue.
I don’t have a side on this one. I know for a person on minimum wage it makes a huge difference, all I am doing is stating what she said.
” Market forces take care of this.”
I am not sure if that is correct. If employers could, they would pay as little as they could get by with. The reason why is quite deep and there is not enough room to do the subject justice, but the overall cause lies with the habits of the American Consumer and modern investors.
People are forced to work for less than their parents and grand-parents did (compensating for inflation), and employers are more than willing to oblige them. Where they cannot find people to employ, they import them. That and other issues distort the market.
The current scheme is not sustainable.
The minimum wage is not a Federal issue, it is a state issue. You can’t do this on a federal level.
The Iowa family Median household income is 24th out of the 50 states, the bottom sate, Mississippi is only $12,000 less than us less per year.The top state, Maryland is $20,000 more than us here. To do this on a national level makes no sense to me, this is a state issue.
It is high time we step up for states rights and keep the feds out of our face. The state wage is non of their business. I would challenge each of you to reach out to someone you know in Maryland, and find out if they are making $7.35, I don’t think you will find one. Market forces take care of this.
Here is the link to the wages from the census, this could also be wrong because it is filled out by the user and not actual payroll numbers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_income#States_ranked_by_median_household_income
If minimum wage had kept pace with executive’s salaries since 1990, minimum wage would be over $23 per hour. Give the working poor a break and raise it.
Yeah, give em a break why don’t ya. We should all be making $23 an hour. I could buy lots of stuff.
Happy,
Just trying to follow your thinking here. The executive moves and changes the business plan, directs his reports on where he or she want’s the business to go, they give him feedback and he adjusts the business plan accordingly and sets the goal and budget, that is how it works in the business world.
If you are making $7.35 an hour, you need to look around. Even in Iowa, I don’t see many people that are on minimum except the teens entering the job market. This is just another feel good piece of legislation.
Bring on the $10 Big Mac!
It’s still way below what’s been. In 1980 it was $3.10 and hour. That $3.10 is worth at least $9.30 today. Probably more.
You miss the point.
That’s exactly the point.
Government needs more revenue. So why not raise everyone’s pay so they can pay more in taxes. Businesses are stuck having to flip the bill so who cares…right? It’s not like they are already forced to pay for Obamacare now. Either pay the insurance or pay the fine, it’s your choice. It’s two fold because if the business does not cover the individual then the business is fined and the individual is burdened with having to be covered. So if the individual doesn’t pay for coverage then they’re fined too. No matter what, they’re forced to pay. What a great system we have, I can’t wait for the government to tell me what to do next. Maybe that extra $1.75 will help a person cover the government’s lowest level insurance coverage of $20,000 a year.
Great! That just means more jobs going to illegals.