10/11 NOW, Sep. 6, 2022

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Secretary of State Bob Evnen announced Tuesday that county elections officials have completed their task of verifying signatures submitted as part of the Voter ID Constitutional Amendment and Nebraska Minimum Wage Statute Initiative, and both will appear on the ballot for the November general election.

The Nebraska Minimum Wage Statute Initiative would gradually raise the minimum wage over four years, adding $1.50 annually until it hits the $15 goal by 2026. ...

Morrow Collision Center, located in Lincoln, said bumping up worker pay is one tool...

By Joe Harris
Fox42, KPTM, Sep 6, 2022

OMAHA—It's a proposal that would raise the state minimum wage in four steps. First, it would take it from $9.00 an hour to $10.50 on Jan. 1. By 2026, it would be $15.00 per hour. This fall, Nebraskans will have the chance to decide the measure's fate at the polls.

The group Nebraska Business for a Fair Minimum Wage supports the idea of raising it. Member Mike Draper, who also owns Raygun stores, said the federal minimum wage hasn't changed in more than a decade.

"It's at $7.25...

By Jacob Comer and Brian Mastre
6 News WOWT (NBC), Omaha, Sep. 6, 2022 

Nebraska residents will be voting on two initiatives this November. According to Secretary of State Bob Evnen, election officials have verified the signatures for two different ballot initiatives: the Voter ID Constitutional Amendment and Nebraska Minimum Wage Statute. ...

The Minimum Wage Statute would raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026. ...

Some businesses say the wage increase would directly benefit thousands of Nebraska residents.

Raygun Clothing employs 110 people in all sorts of different jobs across a number of midwest communities. From here in...

By Tim Murphy
City & State New York, Sep 6, 2022

... a coalition of state lawmakers and advocates will push in next year's legislative session to raise the minimum wage incrementally over the next few years ...

One business owner already on board is Jonathon Welch, owner of Talking Leaves Books in Buffalo, who starts his staffers at just above the upstate minimum wage of $13.20 but also has workers currently making as much as $18.

“People need to make a living wage, which the current minimum wage is not,” he said. “But also, if people make...

By Dani Romero
Yahoo Finance, August 6, 2022

It's been 13 years since Congress raised the federal minimum wage, the longest period without an increase since 1938. ...

The Biden administration has advocated for a $15 federal minimum wage, which would lift the pay for 32 million Americans. Earlier this year, President Biden signed an executive order requiring a raise for federal contractors to $15. ...

Some small businesses have backed a minimum wage hike too ...

"Paying a living wage is the right sort of business decision to make," said John Schall, a taqueria owner in Boston, Pennsylvania, and...

By Juliana Kaplan, Joseph Zeballos-Roig and Madison Hoff 
Business Insider, July 24, 2022

There comes a time when someone — or something — undergoes a big transition: Becoming a teenager.

For humans, it's often a time of celebration and change. But for policy, it means things haven't changed in a long time. And it's a milestone the $7.25 federal minimum wage just reached. ...

Many states and cities have taken matters into their own hands ... But 20 others still have their minimum wage at the federal rate.

One of those states is New Hampshire. "It's not feasible...

By Nicole Goodkind, CNN Business
CNN, July 24, 2022

...  July 24 marks 13 years since the last time the US federal minimum wage was raised, to $7.25 an hour. It's also the longest period without a raise since the federal minimum wage was enacted in 1938.

Even as historically high inflation rates have eroded the strength of US paychecks and headlines focus on the tight labor market, that $7.25 rate, which amounts to $15,080 a year for full-time work, remains firmly intact.

"Every day without a raise is another day the minimum wage falls further behind...

By Justin Udo
KYW Newsradio, Philadelphia, July 24, 2022

Sunday marks the 13th year since the last federal minimum wage increase, to $7.25 an hour. Since then multiple states, including New Jersey, have raised minimum wage rates to $13 dollars an hour or higher. However, twenty states, including Pennsylvania, have minimum hourly wages that are no higher than the current federal wage. ...

Some business owners in our region told KYW Newsradio they would like to see that rate go up, echoing calls nationwide for raising it to $15 an hour. ...

Scott Nash, founder and CEO of MOM's Organic Market...

By Cassie Miller
Pennsylvania Capital Star, July 23, 2022. Also WFMZ-TV Pennsylvania, St. Joseph News Press (MO), Eastern Progress (KY), Longview News Journal (TX), KPVI (NBC) Idaho, other outlets

This Sunday marks 13 years since the federal minimum wage was last raised, the longest period in history without an increase.

The federal minimum wage was at its peak purchasing power in 1968, when the minimum wage was worth $13.86 in 2022 dollars, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator.

“Every day without a raise is another day the minimum wage falls further behind the cost of living,” said Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for...

Daris Schneider-Bray (Producer)
11 Alive (NBC), WXIA-TV, Atlanta, July 22, 2022

... Many business owners saying raising the minimum wage has helped with retention and employee happiness. ...

Interview with Johnny Martinez, co-owner Joystick Gamebar, Georgia Beer Garden, and By Weight and Measure bar in Atlanta.

WATCH

By Will Bauer
Nebraska Public Media (PBS, NPR), July 22, 2022

Thirteen years after the federal government last raised the federal minimum wage, a ballot initiative in Nebraska aims to raise Nebraska’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026.

Petition organizers submitted nearly double the required number of signatures earlier this month to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office. The petition proposes gradually raising the minimum wage each year.

“I think Nebraska's graduated scale is fairly conservative and will be easy to hit,” said Mike Draper, who owns Raygun, a clothing and design store in Omaha. “And it's...

Op-Ed By Holly Sklar, CEO, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage

The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour for 13 years. ... Every day without a raise is another day the minimum wage falls further behind the cost of living. ...

By Christopher Rugaber
Associated Press (AP), July 8, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — A strong hiring report for June has assuaged fears that the U.S. economy might be on the cusp of a recession — and highlighted the resilience of the nation’s job market. ...

John Schall, the owner of a Boston-based Tex-Mex restaurant chain called El Jefe’s Taqueria, is enjoying strong sales growth and says he’s optimistic about his business. He plans to open his eighth restaurant next week in Pittsburgh. Schall has hired five managers there and will add up to 30 hourly workers.

Having opened...

By Lorie Konish
CNBC, July 7, 2022

Workers earning minimum wage are getting an income boost in some parts of the U.S., thanks to new higher minimum pay rates that went into effect in July.

Connecticut, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, D.C., all had new higher minimum wages as of July 1. Those increases come as the federal minimum wage stands at $7.25 per hour, unchanged since 2009.

President Joe Biden has advocated for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour for all workers. In January, an executive order he signed that raised the...

KETV, ABC 7 (Omaha), July 7, 2022

A petition submitted Thursday morning would put the issue of the minimum wage on the ballot in November. ... The proposed measure would gradually increase the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026.

One Lincoln business owner said this will help everyone.

"Fair wages make a business stronger, they also make our economy and our community stronger. A person working full-time for Nebraska's current $9 minimum wage earns just $18,700 a year. You cannot get by on that," Alma Ceretta said.

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