Calls to establish a regionally adjusted federal minimum wage are dangerously misguided. There is not a county in the U.S. where an individual working full time could achieve a secure standard of living earning less than $15 per hour. epi.org/blog/calls-to-…
Raising the minimum wage to its historical peak in 1968 had no adverse effects on employment, according to new evidence. Establishing a strong national floor is easier now than in 1968 because wage differences across states have declined substantially. academic.oup.com/qje/article-ab…
A regional minimum wage would serve to normalize or tolerate existing low-wage conditions in particular regions, industries, or occupations that are largely the result of historical racism and sexism.
When the first federal minimum wage was being debated in the 1930s, Southern congressmen insisted that the wage should be adjusted by region, concerned that the federal standard would upset the white supremacist plantation system that dominated the South’s economy.
Adjusting the federal minimum wage based upon regional wage differences would serve to cement racial & gender wage disparities. And given the evidence that higher minimum wages do not have adverse employment impacts, there is no reason why we should not enact a $15 minimum wage.

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More from @EconomicPolicy

8 Apr
NEW: The erosion of collective bargaining since 1979 has cost the median worker $3,250 annually. Declining unionization has driven 33% of the growth of the wage gap between high- and middle-wage earners.

We need the PRO Act. Learn more from @LarryMishel: epi.org/publication/er…
Lower unionization has reduced wages by 7.9% since 1979.

But this deunionization wasn’t inevitable—it was a deliberate policy choice made on behalf of wealthy interests and corporations, and it can be reversed. epi.org/publication/er…
The decline hit men the hardest given they were more likely to be in unions than women in 1979: The median hourly wage of men fell $2.49, which translates into a loss of $5,171 annually. However, current trends show that broadening unionization would benefit women as much as men. Image
Read 6 tweets
5 Mar
If the minimum wage had increased at the same pace as productivity growth over the last 70 years, it would be over $22 an hour today. The U.S. can certainly afford a $15 minimum wage.

Learn more about why we need to #RaiseTheWage: go.epi.org/raisethewage
A $15 minimum wage would lift pay for tens of millions of workers and help reverse decades of growing pay inequality. #RaiseTheWage #FightFor15
Low wages hurt all workers and are particularly harmful to Black workers and other workers of color, especially women of color, who make up a disproportionate share of workers who are severely underpaid. Raising the minimum wage to $15 would help narrow racial pay gaps.
Read 5 tweets
5 Mar
Today's jobs report shows that 379,000 jobs were added in February, but the U.S. economy is still down 9.5 million jobs from a year ago. Congress MUST pass the full $1.9 trillion relief package immediately.

Learn more from @eliselgould: epi.org/indicators/une…
While the overall unemployment rate declined slightly to 6.2%, the Black unemployment rate actually increased to 9.9%. Passing large-scale relief measures now is an economic and racial justice imperative. #JobsDay #JobsReport
The official unemployment rate understates the total economic pain. 25.1 million workers—or 14.7% of the workforce—have been directly harmed by the coronavirus downturn.
Read 4 tweets
4 Mar
The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan is at the right scale of what relief and recovery demands. It is also likely to spread fiscal support over time in a way supportive of recovery. It is in no way “too much.” epi.org/publication/th…
The goal of federal aid to state and local governments shouldn’t just be to restore the pre-COVID status quo. Building back better will require more public investments. Scaling back this aid would make it a significantly worse package. epi.org/blog/projected…
The $1.9 trillion proposal is driven by careful consideration of the evidence and is not artificially constrained by outdated fears about federal debt. This marks a welcome break from mistakes made in past downturns, such as the Great Recession. epi.org/press/presiden…
Read 5 tweets
25 Feb
"The wage-setting mechanism in the U.S. labor market is massively broken," said @TheaLeeEPI during @SenSanders'
Senate hearing today on worker wages and benefits. c-span.org/video/?c494850… #RaiseTheWage #FightFor15 1/
"Four decades of flawed policy decisions have systematically eroded the bargaining power of workers, while simultaneously concentrating the political power and wealth of large corporations and the wealthy." 2/
"The result is a labor market where—contrary to neoliberal economic equilibrium models—actual wage levels for most workers reflect generations of accumulated systemic racism, sexism, and occupational segregation; 3/
Read 10 tweets
24 Feb
THREAD: Wages grew in 2020 because low-wage workers were pushed out of the labor market. Nearly 7.9 million of the 9.6 million net job losses were among low-wage workers, while the highest-wage workers gained nearly a million jobs.

Read our new report: epi.org/publication/st…
Overall, less than 75% of low-wage workers were still working in 2020 compared with over 90% of high-wage workers. Faster wage growth between 2019 and 2020 is largely a result of the changing composition of the workforce.
Wage growth in 2020 is neither a cause for celebration nor a reason to inject fears of economic overheating into policy debates. It is not an accurate indicator of the amount of economic devastation and pain experienced by millions of workers and their families in 2020.
Read 7 tweets

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