Lawmakers: Federal minimum wage increase good for workers

By Greg Jordan
Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Jul 21 2008

PRINCETON — In a time of rising gasoline and food prices, people who depend on the federal minimum wage can expect some relief starting Thursday.

In 2007, Congress approved and President Bush signed into law legislation to significantly increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years, said U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va, who co-sponsored the bill. During July 2007, the minimum wage grew from $5.15 to $5.85 an hour. This year it increases to $6.55 an hour on Thursday.

“Americans who work hard and play by the rules should be able to earn enough to provide for their families,” Boucher said. “For 10 years, the minimum wage was frozen at $5.15 an hour, a wage far too low to provide for the needs of a family as gas prices, food costs and health insurance costs continue to rise. This represented the longest period in the history of the minimum wage law that minimum wage workers failed to receive an increased wage.”

Part-time jobs such as seasonal work in fast food restaurants sometimes stay at minimum wage, but a job seeker should not automatically dismiss the idea of taking a job that starts at minimum wage, said David Hodges, manager of job services at Workforce West Virginia in Princeton. The minimum wage is a starting point for some employers

“Sometimes if you have no experience and you’re right out of school, it could be minimum wage,” he said. “But if you have some experience and bring something to the job, it’s possible to get more. Nothing’s impossible. You can check on a job and see what it turns into.”

Raising the minimum wage to $7.25 will provide an additional $4,400 a year for families of minimum wage workers, Boucher said.

“The increase in the minimum wage will benefit more than 12 million workers nationwide either directly or indirectly as a result of a new wage floor, including nearly 500,000 workers in Virginia. Nationwide, 3.1 million parents will benefit from the increase,” he said.

In West Virginia, people earning minimum wage also need the increase in order to cope during difficult economic times.

“West Virginians understand that a fair minimum wage makes everyone's life better. West Virginia’s minimum wage is already $7.25 an hour and I am glad that the rest of the country will soon follow our lead,” U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va. said.

“Hard-working Americans deserve to be fairly compensated so they can provide for their families, and this increase is particularly timely given current rising costs," he said.