skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, September 19, 2024

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

U.S. gender wage gap grows for the first time in a decade; Trump has embraced NC's Mark Robinson, calling him 'Martin Luther King on steroids; Volunteers sought as early voting kicks off in MN; Women's political contributions in congressional races fall short of men's.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rising threats of political violence, a Federal Reserve rate cut, crypto industry campaign contributions and reproductive rights are shaping today's political landscape.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

A USDA report shows a widening gap in rural versus urban health, a North Carolina county remains divided over a LGBTQ library display, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz' policies are spotlighted after his elevation to the Democratic presidential ticket.

Report: Pay Gaps Could Narrow with Higher Minimum Wage

play audio
Play

Monday, April 23, 2018   

LANSING, Mich. – A new report calls for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour to reduce poverty and promote pay equity. While the minimum wage in Michigan is $8.25 cents an hour, it still is $7.25 cents an hour in 21 other states.

Since the current federal minimum wage went into effect nine years ago, it has lost 13 percent of its value - and the minimum federal wage for workers who get tips has stayed at $2.13 an hour since 1991.

Emily Chatterjee, senior counsel at the Leadership Conference Education Fund, says raising the wage would do more than help lift people out of poverty.

"It would address the gender pay gap because women are over-represented in this workforce," she says. "It would also help address the racial wealth gap because people of color are also over-represented here."

The report - entitled "Bare Minimum: Why We Need to Raise Wages for America's Lowest-Paid Families" - includes first-hand accounts of low-wage workers struggling to make ends meet.

Chatterjee points out that people working for tips are twice as likely to live in poverty, and two-thirds of them are women. She adds that poverty isn't the only result.

"Tipped workers' livelihood shouldn't depend on whether a customer feels like being generous that day," she stresses. "There's a power imbalance there. In fact, a lot of tipped workers face increased levels of sexual harassment as a result of that."

Chatterjee says the report makes a case for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 as one of four steps to effectively fight poverty and wage inequality.

"We want to index it to inflation so that the value of the minimum wage doesn't erode over time," she adds. "We also want to eliminate the tip minimum wage, and we want to eliminate the sub-minimum wage that some people with disabilities are paid."

Fifty-eight-million workers are paid less than $15-an-hour. That's more than half the American workforce.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Recipients of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Grant can now access funding to drive financing for thousands of climate-focused and clean energy initiatives. (bilanol/Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

Michigan's most vulnerable communities are receiving federal funding to fight the devastating effects of climate change. It's part of the $27 billion …


Health and Wellness

play sound

September is Health Literacy Month, and a Denver-based group is working to help health professionals break a persistent pattern of discrimination …

Environment

play sound

A new report contends fossil fuel funding has biased Columbia University's climate research. The report, by two Columbia students, shows the …


Alabama releases roughly 220,279 men and 78,247 women from its prisons and jails each year. (Chad Robertson/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An Alabama woman is on a mission to help people who've been incarcerated for decades successfully transition back into society. The mission to …

Health and Wellness

play sound

In North Carolina, the gap between Medicaid reimbursement rates and the actual cost of dental care has reached a crisis point, impacting both …

So far in 2024, community health centers in North Dakota have screened 11,580 patients for food insecurity. Through those screenings, more than three thousand box meals have been distributed. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

September is Hunger Action Month. In North Dakota, it isn't just food banks trying to help underserved populations get nutritious items. Health …

Environment

play sound

Marine biologists conducting deep dives near five California islands are collecting data they hope will strengthen the case for ending gillnet fishing…

Environment

play sound

Researchers at Iowa State University are taking aim at the huge amount of energy used by data centers, now and in the future. They have developed a …

 

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