Lawmakers Move to Raise Arizona Minimum Wage: Republicans Against It

I am proud to sponsor legislation that will raise the minimum wage to $7.10 from $5.15, which includes, most importantly, an automatic adjustment each year to compensate for inflation.  Let's go through some of the reasons why such a measure is badly needed.  The adjustment I propose is long overdue. Arizona is one of six states that have no minimum-wage statutes. A $7.10 hourly wage adds up to $14,768 a year, based on a 40-hour week. This would leave family of four still well below the federal poverty line of $18,850 a year.  The nationwide minimum has been frozen in place since 1997, a span of more than eight years. The cost of food, utilities and rent increased sharply over that time span, making it hard to survive. Because of inflation, the earning power of this frozen minimum wage has been badly eroded. It now is equal to about one-third of the average hourly wage paid to U.S. workers. That is the lowest "basement wage" in this country since 1949. That is why several states in the past few years have voted to increase the minimum wage for working families. Hull and his fellow critics always argue that higher minimums force employers to fire some low-wage employees to accommodate higher costs. It simply isn't true. A comprehensive study by the Economic Policy Institute looked at the years before and after the federal minimum wage went up, and found no loss of jobs. In fact, there is evidence that higher basic wages save money for employers though higher productivity, lower training and recruitment costs due to less staff turnover, decreased absenteeism and improved worker morale. [more]

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