Hundreds of thousands of workers making minimum wage in New York could soon be getting a big raise.
Minimum wage workers haven’t seen a pay increase in three years. That could soon change, since State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver reportedly plans to introduce a bill today, raising the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $8.50.
That’s a 17 percent increase.
The bill would also require the rate to be adjusted annually for inflation.
Nationwide, 18 states already have a higher minimum wage rate.
Earlier this month, Silver spoke about the need to bring New York up to par. He said the current minimum wage is unrealistically low.
“It’s absurd to expect anyone, let alone a working family, to afford the cost of living today,” he said.
It’s an issue both Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have championed recently.
“The cost of living in New York City, like nearly everywhere else, has gone up,” Bloomberg said during his annual State of the City address. “And not just housing, but food, transit and all the key parts of a family’s budget. But there’s one thing that, in all fairness, hasn’t gone up: The ability of those at the bottom of the economic ladder to pay for those essential needs.”
{1010 WINS/Matzav.com Newscenter}
Anyone who knows anything about economics will know learn that raising the minimum wage does not help, but can actually further hinder the economy. Employers will hire less Americans or hire illegal immigrants, and certainly pass on their added expenses of the raises, to guess whom? Us, the consumers! So it might sound all nice and beautiful but it actually has the opposite effect on the economy as the politicians would believe (unless of course they are conservative and see things more realistically)
SHELLY-RAISED ALL TAXES USER FEES TOLLS FUEL TAXES AND THEN HE WANTS RAISE THIS AS WELL LOWER THE TOLLS FUEL TAXES TOLLS AND OTHER USER FEES AND THEY WONT HAVE THE PROBLEM BUSINESS SHELLY WILL COME BACK AND THEY WILL BE WORKING