MassFiscal Says Warren’s Minimum Wage Increase “Flawed”
Thursday, March 21, 2013
"Old, honorable and fundamentally flawed is how the New York Times described an increase to the minimum wage in 1987. Today, elected officials are still using the same emotional explanations for increasing the rate without looking at the facts," said Paul D. Craney, Executive Director of Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
Warren made the increase suggestion at an Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, suggesting a push to $22 an hour.
"Massachusetts is one of 18 states that has a higher minimum wage rate than the federal law. Most studies point to the fact that increases to the rate hurts those that need it the most,” said Craney. “The NY Times figured this out in 1987 and many employers know this today. It's just a shame some of our elected leaders haven't caught up to reality.”
Opening Up the Debate
Currently Federal law sets the minimum of $7.25 per hour. Twenty-three states have a minimum wage rate the same as the Federal rate. The border states of New York and New Hampshire have lower rates than Massachusetts.
Attention has been brought to minimum wage again recently, as President Obama has stirred up debate, asking states to set rates at $9 per hour by the end of 2015.
Some lawmakers in the state have proposed increasing the rate to $10 now and $11 in three years. Massachusetts Treasurer, Steven Grossman, described the state minimum wage hike to $10 an hour as “thoughtful and sensitive.”
The group pointed out that, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 21% of hourly employed teenagers earn minimum wage or less compared with about 3% of workers age 25 and over. Of this small percentage of adults earning minimum wage or less, 94% also have a spouse that works as well.
In 8 out of 10 families supporting children, the minimum wage job accounts for less than 20% of the total household income.
A Solution?
Mass Fiscal say that the solution for helping the small percentage of minimum wage workers who are trying to support a family lies in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which allows low income households to receive a tax credit based on their income level. The law gives those with lower income a higher the tax credit, which permits targeted low income households to receive a break rather than the minimum wage pool in general.
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Comments:
Iron Mike Farquhar
9:21am on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Where was Senator Squaw when Senator Rand Paul was fighting on the floor of the Senate for our right not to be killed in the USA by a drone strike?
She wants Burger King employees paid $22/hr, - but doesn't care if Obama decided to kill a few with drone strikes?
What a [bad word] she is!
Paul Boutiette
10:18am on Thursday, March 21, 2013
With all due respect to Senator Warren, what is she on? I want some of that to escape reality too! If a person wants to earn $22.00/hr. they can attend a higher education institution, whether day or night school, and earn the right to that wage by working their way up the ladder. It does not come for free because there is no such thing as "FREE". Free costs somebody, always!
$22.00/hr. minumum wage will chase all, each and every manufacturing job out of the state in a heartbeat. All you'll see is dust in the wake. Every single factory will close and more jobs in this state will be lost overnight, whether to another state or to China. What is she thinking? Scott Brown, where are you when we need you??
Christopher Pinto
12:52pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
She was a flawed candidate and now she is a seriously flawed United States Senator.
Elections have consequences. The only thing that will fix stupid is if she gets her $22/hr. minimun wage and the economy goes into a death spiral. Maybe we can try it in MA first...
C Norris
6:33pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
Congratulations MA! You had a chance to elect a bi-partisan senator and instead you went with an aging, "tow the party line", out of touch with common people, hHarvard elite, lunatic grandma.
You get what you deserve.
C Norris
6:52pm on Thursday, March 21, 2013
@Iron Mike,
I bet she was writing and promoting her new book while she was supposed to be squashing our rights and ruining our economy. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea for her to write a book about the lies she passed during the election as truth.
Put it this way. When i applied for college I had to prove i was Native American to get benefits. Warren on the other hand, nothing. Now thats racism.