With an estimated 400,000 workers in New Jersey making minimum wage, a new website, www.raisethewagenj.org, is now “live” and makes the argument that wages for New Jersey’s lowest earners should go up $1.00 per hour and allow for cost of living increases.
Working Families United for New Jersey is the group behind the website.
“For too long, low income families, single parents, and students work incredibly hard to earn less than a livable wage,” the website says. “An individual working a full time job at minimum wage barely earns $15,000 a year before taxes. Increasing the Minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $8.25/hour, with an adjusted annual cost of living increase will put just a little more in the pockets of those who need it most. The hard working citizens of this Garden State deserve a chance to earn their fair share.”
New Jersey has a cost of living that is about 30 percent higher than the national average, yet the state is tied for having the lowest minimum wage rate.
Low-wage workers are likely to spend whatever extra money they receive on groceries and other essentials, so the extra money workers receive will get pumped right back into the economy.
And according to a Chicago Federal Reserve Bank study, for every dollar increase in the minimum wage, there is $2,800 in new consumer spending by that household the following year.
The New Jersey legislature voted to raise the minimum wage back in 2005. But proponents of the minimum wage hike say the minimum wage has simply not kept pace with the cost of living in the state.
Now the issue of raising the minimum wage in New Jersey is up to voters.
Raise the minimum wage Question 2 measure
The Question 2 ballot measure would raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 per hour and allow for cost of living increase adjustments.
There is a growing chorus for a “yes” vote for Question 2 on the New Jersey ballot.
“This is a critical step toward enhancing the lives of our working families,” Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop told the Jersey Journal. “We know that our working families support our local economy and these hardworking men and women deserve pay equal to their work.”
As part of the launch, Working Families United for New Jersey produced a video that features a New Jersey woman who is trying to live making minimum wage.
(Watch the video online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vnPiwPeWxs)
Tayzia works in Edison as a security guard. She has struggled to support her family on $7.25 per hour. She receives no public assistance. She lives with her mom because she cannot afford to go out on her own.
“Living on my own would definitely not be possible because I would have to worry about heat and hot water if it’s not included, the cost of rent,” says Tayzia. “I don’t have a vehicle now so I would have to calculate bus fare and then just try to keep food in the house… I would not be able to make ends meet it would be a struggle.”
If New Jersey’s minimum wage had stayed even with inflation since 1968, it would be $10.56 an hour today, according to Working Families United for New Jersey.
For more information on raising the minimum wage in New Jersey, please visit www.raisethewagenj.org.
Direct link: https://prnewschannel.com/2013/09/19/raise-the-minimum-wage-in-nj-new-website-makes-the-case-video/SOURCE: Working Families United for New Jersey
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