It’s Time to Finally Raise the Minimum Wage

Getting to $25 per hour by 2038

The federal minimum wage, which has been left stagnant at $7.25 an hour for nearly two decades, has failed to put workers within reach of a living wage. A new brief from Roosevelt’s Patrick Oakford, along with a report from the Economic Policy Institute’s Ben Zipperer, urges policymakers to go back to the basics of meaningful employment standards—starting with the minimum wage:

• Expand wage theft protections to ensure the Department of Labor can return workers’ full earnings when employers shirk their legal obligation to pay workers fairly.
• Raise the minimum wage to two-thirds of median hourly wages, the authors argue, and index it annually to median wage growth. This would mean a $25 per hour wage by 2038, and as research shows, it would have little to no effect on employment.
• Pass just-cause protections for all employees, providing workers with a reasonable degree of job security.

Roosevelt and EPI also joined the Oklahoma Policy Institute last week for a virtual conversation about this new way to think about the federal minimum wage. 

What else we’re up to

• Abundance won’t get anywhere without workers: Kate Andrias and Alexander Hertel-Fernandez joined the Pitchfork Economics podcast to discuss their recent Roosevelt report, which highlights the importance of organized labor to an abundance agenda.
• Calling all housing policy wonks: You still have until June 8 to apply to be a Good Life Resident on Housing and join a cohort exploring industrial strategy for housing construction, and how to design it. 

What we’re talking about