200 Organizations Announce Support for Federal $15 Raise the Wage Act of 2017

The undersigned organizations enthusiastically support the Raise the Wage Act of 2017, as introduced by Senators Bernie Sanders (VT) and Patty Murray (WA), Representatives Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA) and Keith Ellison (MN).

If enacted, this legislation would:

• Raise the federal minimum wage to $9.25 this year and increase it over the next seven years until it reaches $15 an hour in 2024;
• After 2024, adjust the minimum wage each year to keep pace with growth in the typical worker’s wages;
• Phase out the outdated subminimum wage for tipped workers, which has been frozen at a meager $2.13 since 1991; and,
• Sunset the much criticized ability of employers to pay workers with disabilities a subminimum wage through certificates issued by DOL.
• Phase out the subminimum wage for workers under the age of 20.

At a time when wage stagnation and income inequality pose serious threats to our families and our economy, the Raise the Wage Act of 2017 would begin to reverse that cycle and raise pay broadly across the bottom of the workforce. According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, this Act will deliver long-overdue raises to a large segment of the workforce:  more than 1 in 4 workers, 90% of whom are over the age of 20. The average age of workers who would get a raise is 36, nearly half have some years of college education, and 20 percent hold associate’s degrees or higher.  In fact, those who work year-round would see a raise in the order of $3,500 a year, which is enough to make a tremendous difference in the life of a preschool teacher, bank teller, or fast-food worker who today struggles to get by on around $20,000 per year.

More than 27 percent are working parents with children, and half have family incomes of less than $40,000 per year. Women make up nearly 56 percent of the workers who would benefit from a $15 minimum wage, which would be instrumental in helping to close the gender-wage-gap. Raising the minimum wage to $15 would also significantly benefit workers of color, with 40 percent of African Americans workers and 34 percent of Latinos seeing a pay increase once this law goes into effect.

These are the frontline workers who make America run — yet due to the erosion of the real value of the minimum wage over the last half century, they are struggling even as our economy enjoys a solid recovery.

The time for the Raise the Wage Act is long overdue, and we cannot delay in working toward its passage.  We call on Congress to enact this important piece of legislation as quickly as possible, and for President Trump to sign it when it comes to his desk.

Economic Policy Institute

National Employment Law Project