New Jersey

Eva's Village, Paterson, NJ, Reports Dramatic Increase of Needy in Anti-Poverty Program

PRWEB, Mar 19 2009

Expands Meal Program at New Jersey Soup Kitchen

Eva's Village, Paterson, NJ, reports an increase of more than thirty percent in numbers served at Eva's Kitchen. Eva's Village is actively seeking support for anti-poverty programs stressed for resources during the current economic recession.

Eva's Village, Paterson, NJ, feeds up to 400 daily in New Jersey Soup Kitchen built to accommodate 250.

Minimum wage boost produces bang for buck

Op-ed by Eileen Appelbaum and Tsedeye Gebreselassie
New Jersey Star-Ledger, Jan 16 2009
In case you couldn’t tell from “going out of business” signs, the 80
percent discounts, and the gift cards being used to buy food, the latest
retail sales data confirmed it: We’re coming off the worst holiday
shopping season in decades. Few observers were surprised. With
rising costs and stagnant wages, even the most basic necessities – like
food and clothing – are taking bigger chunks out of working families’
budgets.

But another news item last week that received less attention points

State of New Jersey, Second Annual Report of the NJ Minimum Wage Advisory Commission

By NJ Minimum Wage Advisory Commission
New Jersey Minimum Wage Advisory Commission, Dec 23 2008
Public Law 2005, Chapter 70 provided for an increase in New Jersey’s minimum wage

Let’s Stop Minimizing Minimum Wage

Op-ed by Jon Shure
New Jersey Business, Sep 1 2008
In the first edition of his best-selling introductory college textbook, “Economics: Principles and Policy,” published in 1979, Princeton University’s Alan S. Blinder wrote, “The primary consequence of the minimum wage law is not an increase in the incomes of the least skilled workers, but a restriction of their employment opportunities.”

The 2006 edition declares, “…some surprising economic research published in the 1990s cast serious doubt on this conventional wisdom.” Indeed, said Blinder to a Bloomberg reporter in 2006: “My thinking on this has changed dramatically.

John Edwards calls for N.J. minimum wage hike during Newark stop

By Brian T. Murray
The Star-Ledger , Jul 12 2008
Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards compared his campaign pace to the "Energizer Bunny" during a stop in Newark Friday, but he wasn't talking about his failed presidential run.

He was stumping against poverty and in favor of raising New Jersey's minimum wage to a national high of $8.50 per hour. Edwards is touring the nation as chairman of the "Half-in-Ten Campaign" with a goal of reducing poverty in the United States by 50 percent over the next 10 years.

Edwards urges minimum wage hike in NJ

By Samantha Henry & Tom Hester Jr.
Associated Press, Jul 11 2008
Former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards stopped in New Jersey on Friday as part of his push to combat poverty by raising the minimum wage.

Edwards was in Newark as part of his anti-poverty campaign, known as "Half in Ten." He's working to reduce poverty in the U.S. by 50 percent in the next decade.

He urged New Jersey lawmakers to raise the state's current hourly rate from $7.15 to $8.50, saying the move could help lift thousands of working poor into the middle class.

Coalition: Raise minimum wage

By Tom Baldwin
Cherry Hill Courier Post, Jul 2 2008

A workers' advocacy coalition called Tuesday for raising the state's minimum wage from $7.15 an hour to $8.50 an hour, which would make New Jersey's 40,000 bottom-end workers the highest-paid in the nation.

Almost immediately, the idea got shot down, even by the labor-union lawmaker who is sponsoring a minimum-wage bill that he said won't see daylight this year.

"Unfortunately, the cost of living doesn't take a vacation," said Jon Shure, president of a group called New Jersey Policy Perspective, pushing for the rise.

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