This week, WFP executive director Dan Cantor and United N.Y. executive director Camille Rivera published an op-ed in the Albany Times-Union, calling for the state go give 700,000 people a raise. An increased minimum wage can help boost the economy and lift thousands of New Yorkers out of poverty.
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Imagine what it would be like to live on $300 per week.
That’s just about what nearly 700,000 New York state workers earn, according to the federal Census Bureau. That’s 8 percent of the statewide workforce.
More than a million minimum wage and near-minimum wage workers got raises on Jan. 1 that will help struggling families put food on the table, keep the heat on through the winter, and make ends meet.
None of those families live in New York, however.
The workers who will benefit from a little extra money in their pockets live in the eight states that have chosen to adjust their minimum wage rate annually to meet the rising cost of living. In states as disparate as Florida and Montana, Arizona and Vermont, minimum wage workers will get raises of up to 37 cents an hour, or $770 a year for full-time work. It doesn’t sound like much, but for a family relying on low-wage jobs, it could be a month’s rent.
New Yorkers deserve no less. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver deserves tremendous credit for announcing his support for raising the minimum wage at Wednesday’s State of the State speech. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the rest of the Legislature should act quickly to raise the minimum wage and tie it to inflation to jump-start the Main Street economy.
