By Will Ashworth
The Motley Fool, July 31, 2017

... A living wage is good business

The idea of a living wage is not going away. We were not returning to the beginning of the industrial revolution when child labour was a common practice.

Loblaw is not a small business. It’s a giant food conglomerate controlled by one of Canada’s richest families. I doubt any of the Westons have trouble paying for their grocery bills at Loblaw, but many in-store employees probably do.

Putting more money in the hands of its lowest-paid workers will add revenue...

Op-Ed By John Traynor
Scranton Times Tribune, July 30, 2017

Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is stuck in the past and that’s bad for business. Set at $7.25 an hour since 2009, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is lower than all six of our neighboring states.

Our state minimum wage, which amounts to just $15,080 a year for full-time work, is a drag on Pennsylvania’s customer base, tax base and economy.

I own the Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center, a multi-venue arts and entertainment complex, which includes the Kitchen & Gallery Bar, a 150-seat restaurant. We won the 2016 tourism...

Op-Ed By Greg Kelly
State Journal Register, July 28, 2017

In a recent online article from WCIA-TV titled “Rauner pays new staff lucrative salaries,” the governor said Illinois citizens “owe” his highly-paid staff “a debt of gratitude.” He’s dead wrong. Gov. Bruce Rauner owes our families a $15 minimum wage. ...

Our workers aren’t the only ones speaking out for a $15 minimum wage in Illinois — so are small business owners. Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks, CEO of Addison’s Earth Friendly Products, pays her workers at least $17 an hour. Since raising the pay rate, turnover in...

Op-Ed By Chris Lu
As the Deputy Secretary of Labor, I saw not only how higher wages lifted up the lives of working-class Americans but also how employers thrived when they paid higher wages. ...

By Elizabeth Crips
The Advocate (Baton Rouge), July 23, 2017. Also in Daily Comet, Houma Courier.

Kenya Harris recalls taking the city bus from classes at Baton Rouge Community College to her minimum wage job at a fast food restaurant off Sherwood Forest across town — changing into her uniform in the restaurant's bathroom each day. ... With two young children at home, Harris quit college and was working two jobs, as a telemarketer in the day and again in fast food in the evenings. "It crippled me as far as time away from my kids,"...

By Cameron Niblock
San Angelo Live, July 22, 2017

U.S. – Business owners across the nation are coming together in support of increasing the federal minimum wage in the U.S.

July 24 will mark eight years since the federal minimum wage was last increased, according to the Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. Since 2009, the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25, which is worth less than it was in 1950, adjusted for the cost of living.

Business owners and executives across the country are speaking out in support of raising the minimum wage to strengthen businesses...

By Jim Randle
Voice of America, July 20, 2017

WASHINGTON — A study by the Economic Policy Institute says the chief executive officers of America's largest firms were paid an average of $15.6 million each in 2016.

In a report published Thursday, authors Lawrence Mischel and Jessica Schieder say that amount is 271 times as much as a "typical" worker's earnings at those same corporations. That ... is still "light years" higher than the 20-to-1 gap between workers and bosses in 1965, or the 59-to-1 difference that was measured in 1989. ...

At the other end...

By Charisse Jones and Kellie Ell
USA TODAY, July 14, 2017

After her state's minimum wage rose in January to $9 from $7.50 an hour, Kathy Rondone got an extra $20 a week in her paycheck. "To me that's not coffee money or spare change,'' says Rondone, an administrative assistant who lives in Augusta, Maine. "It is a set of windshield wipers when mine broke in a storm last February. ... It's a really big deal.'' 

Working Americans still looking for a raise should look to their state and local governments for help. As the nation heads into a...

By Bill O’Boyle
Times Leader, July 6, 2017

WILKES-BARRE — The minimum wage has not increased in Pennsylvania in about a decade, and a group gathered at City Hall on Thursday believes a hike is long overdue. Speakers at the rally said raising the $7.25-per-hour minimum rate is a critical step to increase the earnings of workers in Pennsylvania. It would also provide additional income tax revenue while ensuring that working families have access to basic needs, they argued.

State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, said a person earning minimum wage makes $15,080 per year...

By Alex Rose
Delaware County Daily Times, July 6, 2017

Media, PA - Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 668 joined elected officials and representatives of small business on the steps of the county courthouse Thursday to rally for an increase in the state’s minimum wage. ... Pennsylvania matches the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for non-tipped employees. Gov. Tom Wolf vowed in February to increase the minimum wage to $12 an hour. State Rep. Patty Kim, D-103, of Dauphin County, has introduced a bill that would ... bring the minimum wage up to...