Let Justice Roll Resources

Raising the Minimum Wage in Hard Times

Summary

The federal minimum wage was enacted during the Great Depression to promote economic recovery.
The long-term fall in worker buying power is one reason we are in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
An America that doesn't work for working people is not an America that works.
Raising the minimum wage boosts consumer purchasing power and economic recovery.
Raising the minimum wage does not increase unemployment in good times or bad.
Raise the floor to lift the economy.

Raising Minimum Wage in Hard Times

Raise the Minimum Wage to $10 in 2010

Summary

Recent minimum wage raises are too little, too late.
The minimum wage is a poverty wage instead of an anti-poverty wage.
The minimum wage sets the wage floor. A low minimum wage institutionalizes an increasingly low-wage workforce.
A low minimum wage reinforces a growing gap between haves and have-nots.
Workers are also consumers. The long-term fall in worker buying power is one reason we are in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Raising the minimum wage lifts workers, business and the economy.
$10 in 2010 will break the cycle of too little, too late raises.
$10 in 2010 will make up ground lost in minimum wage buying power since 1968.
$10 in 2010 will bring us closer to the Fair Labor Standards Act “minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being of workers.”
$10 in 2010 will strengthen the eroded foundation under our families, communities and economy.
A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it.

Raise the Minimum Wage to $10 in 2010

States and Cities Minimum Wage Chart

A chart of all the states and cities with a minimum wage above the current federal minimum wage.

State and Cities with Minimum Wages Above Federal Level

Research Shows Raising the Minimum Wage Does Not Increase Unemployment

Raising the minimum wage does not increase unemployment in good times or bad.

Extensive research refutes the claim that increasing the minimum wage causes increased unemployment and business closures.

Research Shows Raising the Minimum Wage Does Not Increase Unemployment

Faith Leader Letter With Endorsement Form

Download to make hard copies to display and circulate.

Faith Leader Letter to Congress with Endorsement Form

Resources for Living Wage Worship Services and Community Events

Resources for Living Wage Worship Services and Community Events, 3rd edition, is a comprehensive tool kit for congregations and community organizations. Contents include:

Steps for organizing a living wage service or community event
Organizing/advocacy tools for minimum wage and living wage
Readings, prayers and handouts from various faith traditions
Working Family testimonials and Business Voices
Sample Op-Eds and Letters to the Editor
Fact sheets, charts, quotable quotes and much more

Resources for Living Wage Worship Services and Community Events, 3rd edition.

A Just Minimum Wage: Good For Workers, Business and Our Future

Makes a powerful economic and ethical case for raising the minimum wage and moving the United States from a low-road economy to the high road. Counters all the arguments against raising the minimum and offers vital insight into why the minimum wage is so important.

A Just Minimum Wage: Good For Workers, Business and Our Future