Senate Leadership
December 30, 2008
Minimum Wage Increase Set to Take Effect Thursday
Senators Looney & Harp say wage increase more important now than ever before
Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney (D-New Haven) and Senator Toni Harp (D-New Haven) say tens of thousands of low-wage workers across Connecticut will get help making ends meet on Thursday when the hourly minimum wage increases from $7.65 to $8.00 — resulting in a weekly wage hike of $14 for a minimum wage worker.
The State Department of Labor (DOL) estimates that last year there were 65,000 workers in Connecticut who were paid at or below the state minimum wage — representing 3.5 percent of the approximately 1,865,000 total employed workers in the state, or 7 percent of the approximately 923,000 hourly rate workers.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the majority of the minimum wage workers are women — many single mothers — who bring in more than half of their family’s weekly earnings. Many work in retail, sales, cashier and food service jobs.
“Trying to make ends meet right now on a minimum wage job is nearly impossible,” said Senator Looney. “This very modest increase will help hard working people put food on the table. We also know that when it pays to work, people have a powerful incentive to seek employment and not look for public assistance.”
“This new law, and the extraordinary override required to enact it, recognizes the value of those jobs on the bottom rung of our economic ladder, the honor there is in work that is not easy or glamorous, and the people who hold those positions,” Senator Harp said. “These workers play a vital role in our state’s economy; this modest increase in the state’s minimum hourly wage is the least we can do to acknowledge their role and help them meet everyday expenses in this volatile economy.”
Increasing the minimum wage helps those hard working families who have suffered the most during the Bush years. According to a study by the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the gap between the wealthy and the poor is growing faster in Connecticut than in any other state in the nation. The study also found that Connecticut is the only state in the U.S. in which the poorest 20th percent lost real ground in terms of wages (adjusted for inflation) over the past 20 years.
Recent studies and research suggests increasing the minimum wage does not adversely affect employment rates. Last summer a team of economists published a paper, Minimum Wages and Firm Profitability, and concluded that, “Between September 1997, and the end of 2005, 17 states and the District of Columbia raised their own minimum wages a grand total of 47 times. Examination of several demographic groups for which wages and employment are thought to be sensitive to minimum wages found some positive effect on wages and scant effect on either employment or labor supply. ”
The increase in the minimum wage takes effect despite Gov. Rell’s veto of the bill earlier this year. In June, two-thirds of lawmakers in both the House and Senate overrode the veto, and increased the hourly minimum wage from $7.65 to $8.00 beginning January 1, 2009 and then to $8.25 beginning January 1, 2010. Lawmakers also voted to increase the tip credit for bartenders and wait staff.
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Senator Williams’ Derek Slap |
Listing of Leadership’s recent press releases. |
Senator Looney’s Derek Slap |
