A $12.50 hourly wage minus benefits for large retailers was controversial among our city’s elected officials, but even some of the most vocal critics of that legislation agreed with supporters on a key point: that DC’s minimum wage is too low and needs to be raised. On the day last month the DC Council upheld the mayor’s veto of the Large Retailer Accountability Act, four bills were introduced focused on boosting DC’s minimum wage.
On Oct. 28 at 10 a.m., a hearing will be held on these bills before the Council’s Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs.
Now is the time for DC residents to hold our elected leaders to their word, as the public debate shifts from a Large Retailer Accountability Act to what might be called a Keep Your Word on Raising the Minimum Wage Accountability Act. Yesterday, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson joined with legislators from Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland who have introduced bills to increase the minimum wage in those jurisdictions to $11.50 an hour by 2016.
Three of the bills before the DC Council would increase the minimum wage from the current $8.25 to a range of $10.25 to $12.50 an hour, in timeframes of two to four years. Two bills call for automatic inflation adjustments so that worker pay doesn’t remain stagnant while the cost of living here continues to rise. One bill would raise the $2.77 minimum wage for tipped workers, which has not been adjusted for years. These would provide real wage increases for workers who are struggling to make ends meet.
There are several key components DCFPI would like to see in a minimum wage bill:
*Automatic Inflation Adjustments to the Minimum Wage in Future Years
In 1968, the minimum wage was just $1.60. If that wage had kept pace with inflation, the Congressional Research Service estimates it would be $10.77 now. DCFPI supports tying any new minimum wage bill to the Consumer Price Index.
*Raising the Tipped Worker Minimum Wage
The federal tipped worker minimum wage was last increased in 1991 to $2.13 an hour. DC’s is currently set at $2.77, and at least 28 states have a higher tipped minimum wage than the District. Employers are expected to pay up to the minimum if tips do not exceed that amount per hour, but this part of the law is rarely enforced.
*Eliminating Lower Local Minimum Wage For Adult Learners
At the start of training or subsidized work, employers of adult learners may pay only the federal minimum wage. DCFPI supports eliminating this provision, so all workers earn the DC minimum wage.
A $10.10 wage ‘ as proposed for the entire country by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. George Miller (D-CA) ‘ would help 36,000 DC workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The estimated $58 million in increased wages would be spent at markets, clothing shops and hardware stores, helping District businesses large and small. The direct and indirect impacts would help an estimated 16,000 children. A large body of research on minimum wage increases finds that they raise workers’ take-home pay without resulting in job losses.
There are many things our city can do to help hard-working low-wage households, including improving educational resources for their kids, providing good job training in growing sectors of our economy, and making housing affordable. But having a city of residents who earn above the poverty level makes all these investments pay off even more.
