minimum wage
Despite pandemic pay boost, low-wage workers still can’t afford basic needs
Employers grappling with a nationwide labor shortage gave the largest pay increases to low-wage workers between 2019 and last year. But even so, many of those workers — more than 40% of all U.S. households, by one estimate — are struggling to cover the inflated costs of basic expenses. In the past several years, businesses […]
States, cities turn to community organizations to battle wage theft
About five years ago, most of Minneapolis’ Subway, Little Caesars and McDonald’s franchise restaurants did not comply with city wage standards. Now workers at each of the locations that violated the law receive the required minimum wage and time off when they’re sick. This is all thanks to a co-enforcement program, where the city’s labor […]
Bernie Sanders unveils push for $17-an-hour federal minimum wage, citing state increases
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday announced Democrats’ plans to mark up legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour, pointing to an increase in the cost of living. Outside the U.S. Capitol, Sanders, a Vermont independent and chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the panel […]
University of Kentucky should pay student workers what they’re worth: $15 an hour
In 2020 with pressure from the wall-to-wall union United Campus Workers of Kentucky, the University of Kentucky raised its minimum wage for all regular employees to $15 an hour. Notably left out of that pay increase were undergraduate workers, who UK relies on for critical jobs across campus: operating desks at residence halls, assisting with […]
Punitive Republican policies won’t whip Kentucky into prosperity
Why must someone laid off from a job be further penalized by the state? To be denied long-established unemployment benefits? To be pressured to take an available job rather than find one that advanced a career? Yet Kentucky lawmakers decided the state must become a harsh taskmaster, snapping a whip to get people back into […]
Child poverty rates highest in states that haven’t raised minimum wage, including Kentucky
Of the 20 states, including Kentucky, that have failed to raise the minimum wage above the federal $7.25 an hour standard, 16 have more than 12% of their children living in poverty, according to a States Newsroom analysis of wage and poverty data. Anti-poverty advocates say that’s a sign that there’s an urgent need for […]