By Kirby Wilson
Tampa Bay Times, Sep. 23, 2020

Florida voters have the power to dramatically change the laws of the state on Nov. 3. Half a dozen constitutional amendments could permanently shape Florida policy ...

Amendment 2: Raising Florida’s Minimum Wage

... This ballot initiative would gradually raise the minimum wage in Florida to $15 per hour by 2026. Florida’s current minimum wage is $8.56 per hour, greater than the $7.25 federal minimum wage.

The amendment would help level the playing field for workers, says Florida for a Fair Wage, the initiative’s sponsor organization...

By Nancy Luna
Nation's Restaurant News, Sep 16, 2020

As restaurants slowly return to dine-in service where they can, thousands of jobs have been restored. But how restaurants view and pay their workforce is evolving. ... Industry watchers say the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement have amplified the ongoing debate about paying restaurant workers a living wage and the inequities between the front and back of house, especially in “tip credit” states. ...

Since the beginning of the pandemic-related restaurant shutdown, most foodservice jobs were considered essential ... The work is risky, stressful...

Minimum wage is meant to be a living wage, but falls short by a lot

By Andrew Bloomenthal
Investopedia, Aug 18, 2020

The federal minimum wage in the United States is $7.25. It is meant to be a living wage, but this isn't the case in practice. The hourly rate hasn’t kept up with the cost of living since the late 1960s. ...

In 1933, five years before the first minimum wage became law, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said: “By living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level. I mean the wages of a decent living."...

By Andy Medici
Washington Business Journal, Aug 11, 2020

... Boloco co-founder John Pepper’s journey began as part of a business school project, eventually growing to 22 locations that he sold to a private equity firm before buying it back years later to save what remained of the ailing chain. Set up as a B Corporation that balances profits with social value, Pepper put most of the profits into paying employees and promoting from within.

... 2020 had been looking up, with sales increasing 8% in an increasingly competitive landscape. Then Covid-19 swept across the country...

By Joyce M. Rosenberg
Associated Press (AP), August 2, 2020

... Government coronavirus loans in the spring helped eating establishments rehire laid-off employees and ride out the pandemic’s initial surge and wave of shutdown orders.

But that Paycheck Protection Program money has now been spent at many restaurants, leaving them in the same precarious position they were in during outbreak’s early days: Thousands of restaurants are being forced to close down again on mandates from state and local officials combating the virus’s resurgence, particularly in the South and West. And even in parts of the country...

Op-Ed By Ashraf Hijaz, Owner, Beauty & Beyond
... During my nearly 20 years in business, I’ve learned a key lesson: When people make more money, they spend more money, and that’s good for business. ...

Op-Ed By Holly Sklar, CEO, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage
... Some people say we can’t raise the minimum wage now because times are hard. Well, if we hadn’t raised the minimum wage in hard times, we wouldn’t have a minimum wage to begin with. ...

By Aimee Picchi
CBS News MoneyWatch, July 24, 2020

It's been 11 years since the last federal minimum wage hike, the longest span the baseline wage has gone without an increase since it began in 1938. 

Since the last federal minimum wage hike — to $7.25 an hour, starting July 24, 2009 — the cost of living has increased 20%, while the price of essentials such as housing and health care have increased even faster. ...

The push for a higher federal minimum wage may have been shoved to the backburner amid the widespread impact of...

By Kristin Toussaint
Fast Company, July 24, 2020

The last time the U.S. federal minimum wage was raised was July 24, 2009. For 11 years—now the longest period without a raise in the history of the minimum wage—the federal floor for earnings has been set at $7.25 an hour, or $15,080 a year. Over the course of those 11 years, that amount has lost its buying power to inflation, even as the cost of so many necessities has risen. With the country in an economic crisis because of the COVID-19 pandemic, some employers are calling for the federal minimum wage to be increased to $15 an hour to not only help workers, but also boost struggling businesses.

By Eric Morath and Te-Ping Chen
Wall Street Journal, July 21, 2020

Some 25 million Americans are set to lose $600 a week each in federal unemployment benefits at the end of the month, one of the thorniest issues Congress faces when it returns to Washington this week to consider another coronavirus relief bill.

Many people view the payments as a lifeline, and analysts say the $15 billion a week in federal spending has provided vital support to an economy staggering from the effects of the pandemic. ...

Other businesses worry that a reduction in federal payments will hurt consumer spending...