$10 Isn’t Enough

What’s happening

Gradually raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025 would lift pay for nearly 32 million workers—21% of the U.S. workforce. However, a proposal just put on the table by two Republican senators—Tom Cotton and Mitt Romney—would increase the wage to only $10 over four years. 

$10 is “chump change,” writes EPI Economist Ben Zipperer, adding that Cotton and Romney’s proposal won’t even increase the minimum wage paycheck to 1960s levels. 

And EPI Senior Economist Heidi Shierholz calls the $10 proposal “a nightmare.” According to a 2019 CBO report, she explains, a minimum wage of $10 instead of $15 in 2025 would result in 600,000 fewer children and 700,000 fewer adults being pulled out of poverty.
Why the U.S. needs a $15 minimum wage
Here is a breakdown on why the nation needs a $15 federal minimum wage, including the racial and gender impact. Read the fact sheet »
The Fight Over a $15 Federal Minimum Wage in Congress
EPI Senior Economic Analyst Dave Cooper weighed in on how a $15 minimum wage would help front-line workers during an interview with WNYC’s The Takeaway host Tanzina Vega. “Raising the minimum wage to $15 is going to affect a large portion of the workers that have really been hit hardest by this pandemic,” Cooper said. “I’m talking about folks who work at restaurants, retail shops, grocery store workers, child care workers, nursing facility workers. These are the jobs that we now call essential.” Listen to the interview here »
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What we’re talking about
Economic Recovery for Whom? 
“Going big on relief and recovery is a racial justice issue because of things like occupational segregation, discrimination—other huge disparities related to structural racism,” argued EPI’s Heidi Shierholz during a panel discussion hosted by The Graduate Center at CUNY. “Black and Hispanic workers are more likely to have experienced job loss during this recession and they have less wealth to fall back on.” 

“The risks of doing too little are far greater than the risks of doing too much,” Shierholz stressed. Watch the video »
The Biden relief and recovery proposal is just right
In a recent Twitter thread, EPI’s Josh Bivens shares findings from his blog post in which he argues that the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion relief and recovery proposal isn’t “too much.” Read the thread »
Can federal aid help bring back laid-off state and local government workers?
EPI’s Julia Wolfe appeared on Marketplace Morning Report, discussing governments’ ability to rehire laid-off workers: “Many of them will be tempted to pursue austerity—the same mistake that they made last time around, in the Great Recession.” Listen to the segment »

Upcoming webinar
Achieving Economic and Racial Justice for Black Workers: Policy Priorities for 2021 and Beyond
Join EPI’s Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy (PREE) today for a webinar discussing specific policies for recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and overcoming long-standing racial disparities in the labor market. Register for the event »
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What we’re reading and listening to
‘We deserve more’: an Amazon warehouse’s high-stakes union drive
Darryl Richardson was delighted when he landed a job as a “picker” at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. “I thought, ‘Wow, I’m going to work for Amazon, work for the richest man around,” he said. “I thought it would be a nice facility that would treat you right.” Read more »
WATCH: Biden, Rice lead roundtable with Black essential workers
U.S. President Joe Biden and domestic policy adviser Susan Rice held a virtual roundtable meeting Tuesday with four essential front-line workers, discussing the impact the coronavirus pandemic was having on their communities. Watch the video »
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$10 minimum wage proposal is “a nightmare,” EPI economist says
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