New Yorkers working full-time jobs and living below the poverty line is not acceptable to New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
On March 19, Gillibrand called for Congress to pass the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 which would raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour over the next three years, with the minimum wage rising 95 cents each year. Future increases would be tied to inflation.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 1.8 million New Yorkers, 20 percent of the state’s workforce, make minimum wage. The increase would generate $3.2 billion in wage increases to New York workers.
A person working full-time at minimum wage, without any time off, earns $15,080 yearly. “This annual salary for a minimum wage earning working poor family of three is $3,000 below the poverty level on an annual basis,” according to the Economic Policy Institute.
“By raising the minimum wage and rewarding hard work, not only can more families raise themselves into the middle class, but we can grow the economy,” Gillibrand said. “Raising the minimum wage is a common sense way to grow our economy, support job creation, and rebuild America”™s middle class.”
In the Hudson Valley, there are nearly 200,000 workers making minimum wage.
In New York, state lawmakers recently reached an agreement to raise New York’s minimum wage to $9 an hour over three years. President Barack Obama has called for a minimum wage increase to $9 an hour. The federal government last raised minimum wage in July 2009.
Gillibrand said that a minimum wage increase would increase America”™s gross domestic product by $33 billion and generate 140,000 new jobs.
