Minimum Wage Will Increase to $5.85 on July 24. Thank you Democrats.

[bigtree]

U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division posts compliance
materials on Web site

WASHINGTON, July 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department
of Labor reminds employers and employees that the federal minimum wage will
increase to $5.85 on July 24. With this change, workers covered by the
federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will be entitled to be paid no less
than $5.85 per hour. The law also requires that workers be paid on their
regular paydays for all hours worked during a pay period.

The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 amended the FLSA to increase the
federal minimum wage in three steps: to $5.85 per hour effective July 24,
2007; to $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008; and to $7.25 per hour
effective July 24, 2009. A separate provision of the bill will bring about
phased increases to the minimum wage in the Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands (CNMI) and American Samoa, with the goal of bringing the
minimum wage in those locations up to the general federal minimum wage over
a number of years.

The department's Wage and Hour Division, which enforces the FLSA, has
posted updated compliance assistance information on its Web site at
http://www.wagehour.dol.gov. A revised minimum wage poster, reflecting the
increases, is available for viewing, free downloading and posting.
Alternatively, the public may order the poster through the publications
order form available at the bottom of the site's home page. Every employer
subject to the FLSA minimum wage provisions must post, and keep posted, a
notice explaining the FLSA's provisions in all of its establishments so
that employees are readily able to read it.

A revised FLSA Handy Reference Guide is also available electronically
on the agency's Web site. This document provides guidance on related FLSA
provisions, such as the payment of less than the full minimum wage to
certain workers with disabilities, full-time students, and student learners
who are employed under a special certificate. Additionally, the guide
provides information on provisions relating to the payment of wages to
tipped employees and workers under the age of 20.

Employers and employees seeking more compliance information on the new
federal minimum wage rate may call the Wage and Hour Division's toll-free
number at (866) 4US-WAGE (487-9243). Fact sheets, minimum wage posters
for the CNMI and American Samoa, and further guidance are available on the
division's Web site.

Many states have minimum wage laws with provisions that differ from the
federal law. When an employer is subject to both the federal and state wage
laws, the employer must comply with the provisions of each law.

U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at
http://www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made
available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc)
from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when
placing your request at [phone] or TTY [phone]. The Labor
Department is committed to providing America's employers and employees with
easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws
and regulations. For more information, please visit
http://www.dol.gov/compliance.

[JDPriestly]

1. Good work. Makes me proud.

But much more needs to be done to help working people and to ensure that the poor get richer not just the rich get richer.

[madokie]

2. us poor could care less about getting rich we only want a fair shake

thats all.

[VLC]

3. I don't know what the current minimum wage is, but

I suspect it's still quite difficult to live on $5.85 an hour in most of the country.

[bigtree]

4. for sure

I remember how tough it was for my family of four on 3.65 an hour, and that rate was from one of the hard fought for Democratic initiated increases in the '80's

[wicket]

5. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[JDPriestly]

6. Impossible in L.A. -- We need to raise the minimum wage much more.

We need a living wage -- as Congressman Xavier Becerra stated in a Town Hall in Eagle Rock in L.A. last Saturday.

[Wiregrass Willie]

9. From an article in January ($5.15)

Snapshot for January 31, 2007.

Minimum wage increasingly lags poverty line

by Liana Fox

The recently released 2007 federal poverty guideline highlights the severe and growing inadequacy of the minimum wage. Currently, a full-time minimum wage worker (40 hours/week, 52 weeks/year) would earn $10,712 a year, falling nearly 40% below the $17,170 poverty level for a family of three. Even after factoring in the earned income tax credit, which was designed to bring low-wage workers up to the poverty line, this worker would still fall short of the poverty line.1

http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm?id=2611

[Lone_Star_Dem]

38. How about we just work on feeding, clothing and housing the working poor first

Once minimum wage is enough to meet minimum living expenses we can talk more.

[sandnsea]

7. Oregon's is $7.80

Look at how all these red states treat their workers, how many people who are going to be living on this $5.85 and get told, hey, you just got a raise, quitcher bitchin. A reckoning is coming. I hope these bastards don't let inflation go wild to try and blame it on these paltry minimum wage increases.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm

[Wiregrass Willie]

12. That;s good .. . but not good enough

In 1963 the Federal minimum wage was $1.25. According to this inflation calculator --

What cost $1.25 in 1963 would cost $8.05 in 2006.

http://www.westegg.com/inflation/

The minimum wage should be at least $8.05.

[sandnsea]

19. Oregon is indexed to inflation

So even though it's a tad low historically, it's the best that can be expected as far as I can see.

[youngdem]

8. Don't spend that all in one place now

:eyes:

And when you cash that check next week, hold out your hands like a good little peasant does when the aristocrat's carriage wheels by and tosses you slobs a doubloon. Your overlords like when you appear grateful for the crumbs they graciously let fall your way. Don't forget to scream thank you.


It is humiliating to see what some people call progress.

The real minimum wage in this country should be about $12/hr. Everything else is really just political grandstanding and vote buying.

a $.75/hour raise after TEN YEARS!?!?! Oh, thank you massa, thank you. THIRTY DOLLARS EXTRA PRE-TAX PER WEEK? Ooooh, are you sure you can afford it?

Big fucking deal. That doesn't even cover the increase in the cost of GAS.

Nice job Dems. Keep up the good work. Next up? Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[youngdem]

13. I'm not sure how I am personally pathetic because of Congress' failure to pass a meaningful COLA

but, whatever makes you feel better I guess.

I didn't expect a $12 wage. I know we have only one party really in this country, the DLC and the Repukes, in charge right now.

I was only mocking the size of the increase as meaningless.

What have I done to help the working class that has had any kind of real, meaningful change? Well, I did leave my comfortable life in Texas to move back home to New Orleans in the weeks following Katrina, while the flood waters were still here, and I have since spent every day rebuilding affordable homes for HUD and Section 8 families and their children, rebuilding day care centers and next building a nursing home for the poor.

Now, I will admit that isn't tossing three quarters to the poor an hour after ten years and calling it an increase (which it ISN'T... when you adjust for inflation, $5.15 an hour today is about $8.50), but I try to do what I can for the less fortunate.

So, you keep on typing away your efforts from up on your high horse, asshole. I'll put my record of service up against your three quarter insult any day.

[ComerPerro]

20. It is not meaningless to people who it will actually impact, not that you give a shit

[Name removed]

36. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ComerPerro]

42. I'm the tool? You are the one who is essentially saying that anyone who appreciates this increase

is a mindless idiot puppet.

Way to be a working class hero, there, champ.

[bigtree]

11. My family really benefited from the one I got in the '80's

especially since I worked about 20 hrs. overtime a week at time and a half.

And I do believe that other wages get a boost when the minimum wage ticks up.

[youngdem]

14. Other wages won't move from such a small increase

We need to have an informal poll here on DU in a month or two, asking everyone to report back on all of the raises everyone has been getting in response to the rising tide raising all boats.

Right?

Because that's gonna happen, right? Everyone is gonna get a little bump? NOPE.

The DIRT POOR, teenagers and Goodwill employees are getting raises. Everyone else is just that much closer to the bottom.

A tiny little increase like this one is gonna do nothing for the VAST majority of Americans.

A living wage is what we should be talking about.

[bigtree]

17. from my notes, one documentation of the effect

sorry, no attribution available . . .

"Economic research indicates that an increase in the minimum wage has a “spillover” effect, as workers earning just above any new minimum wage experience a boost in their wages as well. Several factors are responsible for such an effect: some labor contracts explicitly provide for rates of pay that are a specified dollar increment over and above the minimum wage, while some employers, in order to maintain the pay scales that were in place prior to an increase in the minimum wage, may decide to raise the pay of other non-minimum-wage workers.

This “spillover” effect appears to have been present to some extent the last few times Massachusetts raised its minimum wage, as workers with wages above the minimum seem to have benefited from those increases as well. Between 1995 and 2004, the minimum wage rose 28.1 percent in real terms, climbing from $5.27 to $6.75 per hour (in constant 2004 dollars). These gains, in turn, may have helped to push up wages for workers at the lowest end of the economic spectrum. During that same 1995-2004 period, wages for workers at the 10th percentile of wage distribution in Massachusetts grew from $7.30 to $7.91 per hour, an increase of approximately 8.3 percent. Wages for workers at the 20th percentile grew by roughly the same proportion, rising from $9.15 to $9.88 per hour, or 8.0 percent.

[bleedingheart]

48. that's about how I feel...

it should be $12 now...

[asthmaticeog]

55. Yep. That about sums it up. Good post.

BTW, what's your source on that $12 figure? A lot of what I've seen bandied about as a reasonable minimum pegged to inflation and/or productivity is in the neighborhood of $9 or $10. Just curious.

[Sanctified]

15. wow $5.85 is pathetic, I was making $7.00 an hour when I was 18 in 1994.

I can't believe they can't get a bigger increase that that, the minimum wage should be around $9.00 an hour. If a business can't afford to pay their employees $9.00 an hour they need to close the shop.

[bigtree]

18. sure it's pathethic, but it's a reflection of the republican opposition

it's about those 'numbers,' those votes

and, I don't think impeachment would cover this :P

[sandnsea]

21. I was making $5.85 in 1984

As a measly legal secretary, and qualified for WIC when I was making it.

[Fox Mulder]

22. Agreed.

I don't see how anyone can live on $5.85/hr. The minimum wage should be $7.25/hr NOW instead of two years from now. And $7.25/hr is still not enough.

[datasuspect]

16. that works out to about $204 net per week filing single with no

dependents.

about $800 per month. or $40 per day

hmm.

a 13 gallon fuel tank costs at least $39 to fill up.

milk is around $3/gallon.

rent in a lot of places is about 400 for a pretty small place or between 129 - 179 for a weekly rental.


gas - say you have to fill up once a month to only travel back and forth to work and nothing else (you'd get around 300 miles out of a 13 gallon tank - so that's $39

rent: conservative estimate $400

utilities: electric at minimum $150

food: $200 per month ($50 per week)

total for the month on this basis is $789, so i guess you could "survive."

[toadzilla]

33. "survive" with no healthcare, clothes, car to put that tank of gas in,

no phone, ect. . .

[JohnLocke]

34. or savings!

[DancingBear]

23. I wonder how many widows that will support n/t

[leftofthedial]

24. pretty modest (for their only real "accomplishment")

if you ask me

still, it's better than continuing the repuke freeze of the minimum wage.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

25. What a load of bullshit.

$5.85?

Pathetic.

[Fox Mulder]

26. Agreed.

[bigtree]

27. sure it's pathetic, but I live on my change

as I did when I relied on a minimum wage job to support my family.

Also, the amount is a reflection of the republican opposition. They're pathetic. The Democrats have promoted and achieved every national increase against republican opposition in the Senate that I can remember, sometimes in the minority, and I'm thankful for that.

[superkia]

28. Wow 5.85 now we're rich!

So at 5.85 per hour at 40 hours taxed at around 20% I will be banking in almost 750 a month..YESS! So after rent which is very cheap where I live ( not the nicest place ) 625 that leaves me about 125 per month for food, electric, gas, car insurance and whatever else I may need, guess that solves the poors problems thanks my lovely politicians!

[bigtree]

31. a lot of folks supplement their income with minimum wage jobs

of course it doesn't solve all problems or is even enough, but it is an increase in front of repeated successful efforts by Democrats to raise the wage in the past.

[datasuspect]

44. that's assuming you can get a mcjob that will offer 40 hours per week

[Forkboy]

29. Work an hour and you too can have two whole loaves of bread!

I suppose anything is better than nothing,but I'm betting this isn't even going to keep up with the rising costs of everything else.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

30. It's hard to believe minimum wages have held so low so long. Glad the Dems moved it. n/t

[walldude]

32. Woo hoo..Good thing we're not wasting time with impeachment

this way we can do stuff like this. Get an extra 28 bucks a week to the minimum wagers, and all we had to do was concede to every single Bush demand on Iraq! :party: :party:

[bigtree]

39. Every fucking thing else in the world doesn't have to stop

How much does this increase affect you? Are you living on minimum wage. Have you ever supported your family with a job which offered minimum wage as a supplement or as your main income?

This bill would have been attached to every important bill advancing and was not an integral part of the overall legislation's passing.

And, it's nonsense that anything we've passed 'conceded to every single Bush demanded on Iraq'

fun and games.

[book_worm]

35. Who the fuck can live on $5.85 per hour?

[bleedingheart]

49. people who are barely surviving...

and most work more than one job...

[entanglement]

37. A pittance. Band-aid for a hemorrhage. Necessary, not sufficient.

I could go on, but I'll stop there.

[Oldenuff]

40. $5.85 an hour!Woohoo..Now I can finally afford that new Yugo!

And if I supplement that with picking up cans and bottles for the redemption value,I might be able to get a burger and fries at Mc D's.


Not to say I'm not thankful for the increase,but heck..who can live on that?

[NMMNG]

41. 1. It's about time.

2. It should have been increased several times over by now.
3. It's not nearly enough.


Still, it's a start.

[Breeze54]

43. Do you think they delayed it long enough??

Anymore bills they want to tie it to??

I mean, gheesh, it's only been twenty years or so(?)!!

So what the hell's another few months to poor people? :sarcasm:

:grr:

Did you hear Richardson get the rate wrong tonight??

He said it would be $6.85 in a few days! :eyes:

[Mr Rabble]

45. In the richest country in the world, this is insulting...and sad.

To think that the labor movement has been so decimated in America that $5.85 an hour is considered a victory speaks volumes about just how bad things have gotten over the last 20 years.

[bdamomma]

46. thank goodness the repigs are not in majority in the House or

Senate or they would have blocked this too.

[slj0101]

47. As paltry as the increase may be,

it's a small step in the right direction that may have never happened in a Repub-controlled congress.

[ComerPerro]

56. got that right. No "may have" about it. Not only would it never have happened

many Repigs consider any minimum wage at all to be unconstitutional.

[slj0101]

58. Exactly.

I remember all the fuss surrounding the last hike.

When I worked jobs through HS and college, min. wage went up four times, from $3.70 in 1990 to $5.15 in 1997. The fact that it hasn't gone up in over a decade is unacceptable.

[bluestateguy]

50. It took 11 years to raise the minimum wage. 11 years.

And even then, only when the bill was lumped into Bush's war bill.

Forgive me if I'm not doing cartwheels for these table scraps.

[bigtree]

53. I don't expect cartwheels

I do expect folks to recognize that Democrats have made these increases happen over the objections and obstruction of republicans for decades. Six months in the majority and we managed one again. The end amount will be $7.25 in 2009. Perhaps we can do what Clinton did and make adjustments to the earned income tax credit, and enhance other safety nets which help low-income workers survive.

[mmonk]

51. Are there any states where the minimum wage is that low?

Really want to know. This isn't criticism. I know North Carolina's (my state) is way higher than that.

[bigtree]

63. Kansas has the lowest, but 5 states have no minimum wage enacted under state law.

check out this chart:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_minimum_wages#Minimum_Wage_levels

[riona]

52. And that's supposed to pay for

rent, food, healthcare, transportation etc.? Some life.

[bigtree]

54. unfortunately, in many cases, it does go to those needs

often as a supplement, but, in other cases, as the main source of income. We can do better, but we need a majority which doesn't have to rely on republicans to pass these bills.

[OnionPatch]

57. I give kudos to Dems for trying, but

these are slave wages. It's a disgrace that anyone gets paid this piddling amount. Anyone who pays such low wages should be deeply ashamed of themselves.

[bigtree]

59. many struggle to get employers to pay them at this level

July 24, 2007

Minimum wage called elusive for some
As the federal pay baseline is raised for the first time in a decade, some analysts say it isn't enforced strictly enough.

"The Bureau of Labor Statistics found that, in 2002, 2 million workers made less than the minimum wage"

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-wage24jul24,1,5171932.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true

[windy252]

60. Ok, I am now officially confused.

I thought I had read somewhere that the Fed minimum wage was supposed to increase to 7 something an hour.

[bigtree]

61. $7.25 by July, 2009

per article

[JesterCS]

62. $6.85 in ohio N/T