| Friend, Working a minimum wage job and trying to find a place to live? You can’t. A new CNBC study showed that not a single state has a minimum wage that can provide for a minimum standard of living in that state.(1) Twenty states still use the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, leaving millions of people in abject poverty despite working full time.(2) We need Congress to take the first step in achieving a living wage for everyone and pass the $15 an hour minimum wage now.
Even in South Dakota, the cheapest state in the country, to achieve a minimum standard of living at $15.15 an hour, employers have to pay their employees only $10.(3) And “minimum standard of living” is not luxurious -- just food, shelter, and transportation. Poverty wages harm women and people of color the most. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nearly two-thirds of workers earning at or near the federal minimum wage are women, and disproportionately Black and Latina women. The $15 minimum wage would benefit us all: With 32 million workers seeing a wage increase, it would boost our economy and lift millions out of poverty. Congress has a bill ready to raise the minimum wage. Courage California and its coalition are gathering millions of signatures to get it passed. Tell Congress to pass the minimum wage now!
Yours in the fight for tax fairness, Irene, along with Annie, Angela, Isidra, Lindsay, Mai, Mai, and Scottie (and the rest of the Courage team) Footnotes:  |
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