Committee on Education and Labor : U.S. House of Representatives

Press Releases

Minimum Wage Set to Increase Thursday
This Is Second Step in Three-Step Minimum Wage Increase Enacted by Democratic Congress

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

 

WASHINGTON, DC -- On Thursday, July 24, the national minimum wage will increase again by 70 cents – from $5.85 per hour to $6.55 per hour – the second of three increases due to take effect under legislation enacted by the Democratic Congress. The final increase will take place on July 24, 2009 and will raise the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour. U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said today that the increase will help many Americans struggling to cope with the economic downturn. Miller was the lead sponsor of the bill in the U.S. House of Representatives and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) was the chief sponsor of the measure in the U.S. Senate.

“T
he increase in the minimum wage comes at an important time for the millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. Real incomes have dropped since 2001, while the costs of gasoline, health insurance, and attending college have skyrocketed. With Thursday’s increase, Americans who most urgently need a pay raise will get a badly needed boost.

“These pay increases aren’t just about helping workers provide for their families. Unlike tax breaks for the wealthy, the minimum wage increase for American workers will be spent locally, which is good for local businesses, large and small, and good for a struggling economy.

“Democrats in Congress have been working to ensure that all Americans are able to share in the benefits provided by their hard work. We will keep working towards those goals in order to help grow and strengthen America’s middle class. So far, Congress has enacted a stimulus package to try to get our economy back on the right track, approved legislation to make college more affordable, and pushed efforts to lower energy and healthcare costs.

“In the wealthiest country in the history of the world, it is an outrage that anyone who works full-time would still wind up in poverty. Democrats will continue to look at solutions that will help all Americans build a better life for themselves and their families.”

BACKGROUND

  • From 1997 to 2006, Republicans controlled Congress and blocked repeated efforts to raise the minimum wage. As a result, the purchasing power of the minimum wage reached a 51-year low in 2006. Miller’s legislation, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, raised the minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour in three equal steps. For more information, click here.

 

Workers in 25 states will see an increase in the minimum wage Thursday. Those states are: AL, AR, GA, ID, IN, KS, LA, MD, MN, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NM, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, WI, and WY.  The rest of the states already have state minimum wage rates higher than Thursday’s new federal rate.