The minimum wage increase is an increasingly popular theme in the American presidential campaign. Representatives from different labor unions (Service Employees International Union, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United…) and friendly organizations (National Employment Law Project, Interfaith Worker Justice, NY State Working Families Party...) want to use the sympathy that came with the Occupy Wall Street movements and the denunciation of the income of large businesses’ bosses to bring the earnings of the less fortunate back on the front stage. Federal minimum wage is $7.25 (about €5.52) an hour and has not increased since July 2009. Besides, since it doesn’t automatically follow cost of living increases, its real value is even lower. According to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute, it barely amounts to 79 percent of what it used to be in 1968.
since it doesn’t automatically follow cost of living increases, its real value is even lower. According to calculations by the Economic Policy Institute, it barely amounts to 79 percent of what it used to be in 1968.
Therefore, unionists are backing up the Rebuild America Act initiated by Iowa Senator Tom Harkin (Democrat). The latter, eager to “help hard-working families make ends meet [and] join the middle class,” propose a three-year minimum wage increase up to $9.8 (€7.46) an hour in 2014
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