skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Report Shows Billions in Raises for Workers Over 4 Years

play audio
Play

Wednesday, November 30, 2016   

HARRISBURG, Pa. – As thousands of low-wage workers staged strikes and protests in cities across the country, a new report shows the fight for a $15 minimum wage is making a difference.

Tuesday's job actions in more than 320 cities nationwide marked the fourth anniversary of the first Fight for 15 strike by fast-food workers in New York.

According to Yannet Lathrop, researcher and policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project, their report shows that the movement has had an impact, raising wages for millions across the country.

"Since the Fight for $15 started, 19 million workers have benefited from this, and the total raise that workers have received is over $61 billion so far," she said.

Still, 43 percent of U.S. workers are earning less than $15 an hour. Opponents of raising the minimum wage say it will cause job losses, and hurt small businesses.

But Lathrop noted that in Seattle, which has begun phasing in a $15 minimum wage, there has been job growth in the restaurant industry, the employment sector most affected by the increase.

"We also saw lower unemployment rates compared to the state as a whole, so overall the indication is that the $15 minimum wage has not really caused a catastrophe as predicted by opponents," she explained.

At least 20 cities and dozens of large companies have raised their minimum wages since 2012. New York and California have passed $15 minimum-wage laws and voters in four states approved raising their minimums in this month's election.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

The Amesbury School Committee will hear from educators and parents tonight as they rally to prevent more than $2 million in proposed cuts to their sch…

Out-of-state money is pouring into Texas as the contentious issue of "school choice" looms large ahead of November's election. (Dzmitry/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

Social Issues

play sound

Women are treated much differently than men by the criminal justice system, according to a new report detailing how and why mass incarceration is …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021