By Pamela M. Prah
Stateline News Service, March 15 2013
At least 10 states are considering raising their minimum wages even as President Obama's proposal to increase the federal standard is stuck in Washington's political quagmire. In one of those states, New Jersey, voters rather than legislators will decide the issue. A measure that will be on the ballot this fall would increase the state’s minimum wage by $1, to $8.25.
The New Jersey measure also would take politicians out of future hourly wage increases by including automatic annual adjustments for inflation, known as "indexing." ...
If New Jersey voters approve the measure on the ballot there, the state would become the 11th with annual automatic increases to the minimum wage indexed to inflation: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington already index. In all of them except Vermont, voters approved the measure with the automatic hike at the polls. ...
“Indexing is certainly the trend in the states,” says Jen Kern, the minimum wage campaign coordinator at the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for the poor. State minimum wage proposals with indexing provisions are moving in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Mexico, New York and Minnesota. ...
In recent decades, proposed increases in the federal minimum wage have been politically divisive. But minimum wage hikes at the state level have been popular among voters: Since 1998, proposed increases have been on statewide ballots 10 times in nine states, and all of them were successful. In those elections the ballot measures won an average of 65 percent of the vote, according to the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, a progressive Washington, D.C., group that advocated for the hikes.
In a February poll of New Jersey voters conducted by Quinnipiac University, 76 percent of respondents supported raising the minimum wage, including 55 percent of Republicans. ...
Obama and other proponents of a higher federal minimum wage say that while companies are making record profits, the lowest-paid workers have seen their purchasing power plummet because the federal wage floor hasn’t kept pace with inflation. If it had, the hourly rate would be $10.59.
As supporters in New Mexico point out, the average cost of a gallon of milk in that state cost $2.69 in 2009, the last time the federal rate went up. Now it’s $3.50. Gas was $2.51 a gallon in 2009, and now it’s $3.52. Putting more money into the pockets of working families will boost local economies by allowing these workers to spend more.
“Families are relying on low-wage jobs more than ever. A stronger minimum wage will help restore the consumer spending that powers our economy and that local businesses need in order to grow,” New Jersey Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver said in a statement. “A robust minimum wage is a key building block of sustainable economic recovery.” ...
Leading Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate have introduced legislation that would go even further than the president’s plan: It would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in three steps of 95 cents, and provide for automatic annual increases linked to changes in the cost of living. ...
But some prominent businessmen have broken ranks and publicly supported an increase. “We know it’s a lot more profitable in the long term to minimize employee turnover and maximize employee productivity, commitment and loyalty,” Costco president Craig Jelinek said last week in a joint statement with other business owners.
Andy Shallal, who owns several restaurants in the Washington, D.C., area, says trade groups are trying to use scare tactics to defeat an increase. “Don’t believe it when you hear business will suffer if the minimum wage goes up. It will help our economy grow and thrive,” he said.
Copyright 2013 Pew Charitable Trusts