Minimum Wage News

At the stroke of midnight today, 19 states increased their minimum wage. Residents of three more and the nation’s capital can expect hikes later on this year. A year ago, the White House and Democratic lawmakers embarked on a campaign to make the minimum wage a defining issue in the 2014 elections. And although that…

Under President Obama, government officials are aggressively enforcing the law against employers who fail to pay the minimum wage, deny overtime compensation and misclassify workers as contractors. That was the central message Labor Secretary Tom Perez delivered before an audience of approximately 100 attendees last week at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C….

Government contractors from around Washington, D.C., held a one-day strike Thursday to urge President Obama to raise the minimum wage to $15 for federal employees. Fearing the Republican-controlled Congress won’t act, the workers pressed Obama to move forward on his own with an executive order. In February, Obama used his executive authority to boost the minimum wage for contract…

In the wave of Republican victories Tuesday, one traditionally Democratic measure succeeded in several conservative-leaning states. Minimum wage ballot initiatives passed in Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota and another is expected to pass in Alaska. Politico characterized this victory as “some rare good news to Democrats in desperate need of some.” According to CNN Money:…

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J.—As far as Rob Pluta is concerned, New Jersey lawmakers who say they want to help restaurant workers by raising the state’s minimum wage for tipped employees have it all wrong. “This will cripple the restaurant industry," Rob Pluta says of New Jersey's minimum wage hike. If Trenton wants to help these workers, says…

MINNEAPOLIS—They’re back, and they’re expensive. Protests outside fast-food restaurants flared up in cities around the country this week, organized by groups with ties to prominent labor unions. The groups organizing the protests—with names such as Citizens Action of New York and Fast Food Workers United—have used a mix of Occupy Wall Street populism and Big…

Thousands of fast-food workers across 150 cities nationwide gathered today to call for a $15-an-hour minimum wage. However, a report released today by James Sherk, senior policy analyst in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation, found that fast-food restaurants would have to boost their prices 38 percent to make up for the increased labor costs….

What is the cost to enforce minimum wage hikes in cities across California? It is an important question in Oakland and San Diego, which are considering increasing the minimum wage within their jurisdictions. San Francisco and Washington, D.C., which have city minimum wage laws, have spent millions and hired a group of full-time employees to…

STILLWATER, Minn.—With its waitress and single cook, its retro-style booths with pale green cushions and its stainless steel wrap-around countertop, the Oasis Cafe could be any local diner in any town in the Midwest. But what makes the Oasis Cafe different is an extra 35-cent “minimum wage fee” tacked onto each patron’s check. A patron…

As momentum gathers for a “living wage” across the country, one Minnesota gubernatorial hopeful is bucking the trend. On the campaign trail for the Republican nomination, Scott Honour announced that not only does he oppose increasing the minimum wage, he’s also in favor of freezing the current rate. On Aug. 1, the state bumped the minimum…

A small-town cafe ignited a firestorm of controversy that has engulfed Minnesota. On Aug. 1, the state bumped the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8 an hour. A few days later, Stillwater Oasis quietly added a corresponding 35-cent “minimum wage fee” to customer receipts. The company’s Facebook page became ground zero of the debate as…

Oakland City Council members who favor a minimum-wage increase have received campaign donations and research from wage-hike activists and labor unions. Last week, the council voted, 5-3, against a moderate proposal to raise the minimum wage over time and to exempt small businesses in the early stages so they could adjust. The council did so to…

Councilmen in Oakland, Calif., rejected an increase in the city’s minimum wage, opting instead to let residents vote in November on a plan to hike the rate from $9 per hour to $12.25. The proposal the city council rejected last week  was drafted as a business-friendly alternative to the more aggressive initiative pushed by the Lift Up…

Can a person survive on $77 a week? Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, are going to try. The liberal advocacy group Americans United for Change says $77 is how much a full-time worker earning the $7.25 federal minimum wage has to spend each week after taxes and housing expenses are…

An activist group is pushing to raise the minimum wage in Los Angeles to $15 an hour with the help of philanthropic billionaires, tax dollars and a socialist workers party. Armed with cash flowing from public coffers as well as the likes of George Soros, the Los Angeles Workers Assembly submitted a proposal to the…

In Seattle, a grassroots organization has submitted a petition complete with nearly 20,000 signatures—well above the 16,000 signature prerequisite, calling for a ballot referendum to repeal the city’s minimum wage hike, which will eventually increase the hourly wage to $15 an hour. On Wednesday, Seattle Forward, a non-partisan coalition of local business owners and citizens,…

DICKINSON, N.D.—As policymakers in Washington, D.C., debate raising the federal minimum wage, entry-level workers in North Dakota enjoy pay levels nearly twice the current federal minimum. “Effectively, our minimum wage in town is $14 an hour,” claims Shawn Kessel, administrator for the City of Dickinson, a community in North Dakota’s booming oil fields. Kessel isn’t…

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said he supports an increase to federal minimum wage even though it could have “traumatic effects” on small business owners and employees. In an interview with CNN Money’s Poppy Harlow, Schultz declined to say what he thinks the minimum wage should be, but he said the $15 minimum wage enacted in his…