Grayson: Hardworking Americans Deserve a Living Wage
More Than 100 Economists Support Grayson Legislation
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Congressman Alan Grayson (FL-09) has introduced legislation to raise the minimum wage to $10.50 per hour. The Catching up to 1968 Act of 2013 will index minimum wage to inflation. Polls show that more than seventy percent of Americans support raising the minimum wage.
Today, more than one hundred professional economists signed onto a petition in support of Grayson’s legislation. Economists concluded that raising the minimum wage to $10.50, and indexing it to inflation, are “an effective means of improving living standards for low-wage workers and their families and will help stabilize the economy,” and could benefit the U.S. economy.
“Right now, hardworking Americans are barely able to keep roofs over their heads and provide food for their children,” explained Grayson. “No person working forty hours a week should be living below the poverty line. Congress’s failure to tie minimum wage to inflation has exacerbated income inequality in this country. Everyone deserves a fair shot at the American Dream. Increasing the minimum wage means that 30 million Americans will have more money to invest in our economy.”
Grayson’s bill would also close the gap between tipped employees and other workers. Tipped employees have not seen a federal increase in more than a decade, when Congress froze their pay at $2.13. The national median annual income for tipped workers was just $16,430 in 2008. Service workers, including restaurant servers and bussers, are the largest group of tipped employees.
“Women and men in the restaurant industry are vastly underpaid for their work,” Grayson said. “Servers experience three times the poverty rate of the nation’s workforce, and use food stamps at nearly twice the rate of the general population. Raising the minimum wage for tipped employees will create a better life for thousands of Floridians, and boost our consumer economy.”
Congressman Alan Grayson represents Florida’s 9th Congressional District, which includes Osceola County, as well as parts of Orange and Polk counties. He previously served as the U.S. Representative for Florida's 8th Congressional District in the 111th Congress.
