EDITORIAL
Falling Behind
Published: January 2, 2012
" ... On Sunday, Washington became the first state to have a minimum wage above $9 an hour, $9.04 to be exact. Seven other states also had increases on New Year’s Day because they, too, adjust their minimum wages to keep pace with rising costs. In Oregon, the hourly minimum rose to $8.80; in Colorado to $7.64, ........."
" ... The federal minimum wage, however, remains stuck at $7.25 an hour. It has been so since 2009, and will stay there until Congress passes a law to lift it. Such raises are too few and far between; there have been only nine legislated increases since the first minimum wage — .25 cents an hour — was enacted in 1938. ... "
" ... During the 2008 campaign, President Obama called for a minimum wage of $9.50 an hour, indexed to inflation. It is time to keep that promise, making a higher minimum wage part of any jobs agenda. ... "
" ... Worse, the real value of the wage peaked in 1968, at a level that is roughly equivalent to $9.85 in 2011 dollars, and it has declined by more than 25 percent since then. States like Washington that protect their workers this way are to be commended. But the purpose of the minimum wage — to reward work, reduce poverty and help ensure that economic growth is broadly shared — would be better met if the federal government was again the standard setter. For a minimum wage to combat income inequality, it must apply to a large section of the labor force. ... "