MINIMUM WAGE - Impact on People's Lives

Of course Republicans oppose this because it's 'too expensive.'  This highlights their hypocrisy because it NOT too expensive to give multi-billion tax brakes to the rich.

"How a minimum wage increase could impact people’s livelihoods" PBS NewsHour 2/25/2021

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SUMMARY:  More than 17 million Americans could see their income rise if the $15 minimum wage now in the COVID relief bill passes Congress.  We hear from some of those who would be impacted by a minimum wage increase, and Stephanie Sy speaks with two economists with different perspectives on the topic.

BERNIE SANDERS - Making New Democrats

"Bernie Sanders on making Democrats a 50-state party" PBS NewsHour 4/25/2017

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SUMMARY:  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the chances of avoiding a government shutdown, rethinking American trade policy and the introduction of legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15, what Democrats need to do to build a grassroots movement and 50-state party.

VOTE 2016 - Beyond the Presidency

"Legal pot, gun control and other big ballot initiatives to watch" PBS NewsHour 11/2/2016

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SUMMARY:  There are more than 150 ballot initiatives this year at the state level, capable of creating huge change for voters.  Nine states are voting on the legalization of recreational or medical marijuana.  Other measures concern gun control, the minimum wage, and the death penalty.  John Yang learns more from John Myers of the Los Angeles Times and Josh Altic of Ballotpedia for more.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Let's focus now on a different election story, ballot initiatives and measures at the state and local level.  It's a big year for it.  There are more than 150 at the state level this year.

John Yang has the story.

JOHN YANG (NewsHour):  Next Tuesday, legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational use is on the ballot in nine states.  And voters across the country will also decide other contentious issues, including gun control, health care and prescription drug costs, the death penalty, and the minimum wage.

We take a look at some of these issues with two people who are following them very closely.

John Myers is the Sacramento bureau chief for The Los Angeles Times, and Josh Altic tracks ballot issues for Ballotpedia, a nonpartisan online political encyclopedia.

Josh, John, thank you both for joining us.

John, let me start with you.

California, as usual, has a long list of ballot initiatives that voters have to decide next Tuesday.  And let's start with marijuana.  California voters approved marijuana for medicinal use in 1996, and rejected it for recreational use in 2010.  Why is it back?  And what's different this time?

JOHN MYERS, Los Angeles Times:  Yes, I mean, it's a good question.  Why is it back?

We're the largest state in the country.  And I think there has been the sense that there is a sea change in the way Californians view this, I think, in some ways mirrored in other parts of the country as well, and certainly efforts in Colorado and Washington state have gotten a lot of attention here in California.

This measure, I will tell you, is drafted much differently than the measure that failed in 2010.  It's more detailed.  It has more details about taxes that are imposed at the state and local level on marijuana.  And it's backed by a couple of very big people.

The Lieutenant Governor of the State, Gavin Newsom; and Sean Parker, the impresario behind Napster and Facebook in Silicon Valley, a wealthy financier, have both gotten behind it.  It has a lot of institutional support.  And the polling shows that it is doing pretty well.

How you get to legalization, I think California is watching these other state, but at this point, it looks voters are probably going to say yes.

JOHN YANG:  And, Josh, what other states is this on the ballot in?  And this is — we see oftentimes ballot initiates leading the way for federal law, federal policy.  It's still illegal at the federal level.  Could this be the tipping point this year?

JOSH ALTIC, Ballotpedia:  There has been a lot of discussion about whether this is the year that will really push towards removal of federal prohibition.

You have it — so, 80 million people live in states this year where marijuana laws could be basically made more accessible to every person.  So, you have recreational marijuana in Nevada, Arizona.  Those are the big ones.  Maine, Massachusetts, and, of course, California.

And while California stands kind of above the rest as a really significant landmark for the tipping point idea, the fact that you have five other states, more than we have ever seen on the ballot at the same time, considering the issue is an indication that this could be a really key year for the policy.

MINIMUM WAGE - Fight for $15

"Is a $15 minimum wage a boon or a risk for low-paid workers?" PBS NewsHour 4/1/2016

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SUMMARY:  The fight for a $15 per hour minimum wage has won its biggest victories yet.  California lawmakers voted for a bill to raise the minimum by 2022, while New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he reached a deal to hike the wage in New York City by the end of 2018.  Judy Woodruff examines the consequences with Douglas Holtz-Eakin of American Action Forum and David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  The fight for a $15-an-hour minimum wage just netted its biggest victories yet this week.

Yesterday, lawmakers in California voted for a bill that will raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 by 2022.  On Monday, Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign it into law.

Last night, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he reached a budget deal hiking the minimum to $15 in New York City by the end of 2018.  Suburbs and other parts of the state would reach that level in 2021.  The combined moves could affect as many as 10 million workers.

But there are continuing questions about whether that level of wage might have unintended consequences.

We explore now that with two who watch this closely from different political lenses.  David Cooper is with the Economic Policy Institute, and Douglas Holtz-Eakin is with the American Action Forum.

And we welcome both of you to the program.

David Cooper, to you first.

You have been watching this issue for a long time, but this has come about pretty suddenly, hasn’t it?

DAVID COOPER, Economic Policy Institute:  It has.  I don’t think anyone expected both states to move so quickly like this.

Of course, there had been talk in New York of there being some sort of increase to $15.  Governor Cuomo talked about it a few weeks ago.  And there were these ballots measures moving in California.  So we expected there to be some action on the minimum wage in both states, but no one anticipated deals happening twice in one week.

JUDY WOODRUFF:  Douglas Holtz-Eakin, I know you have been watching this from your own perspective.  What difference do you think this is going to make?  Some of this will take effect 2018, 2021, 2022.  But what do you see the tangible effects of this?

DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN, Former Congressional Budget Office Director:  Well, we know some of the tangible effects.

There are going to be some people who get a raise.  And that’s the good news part of this.  The bad news is, there is no new money to pay someone $15 an hour, and so the money has to come from somewhere.  And one of the places it will come from is from those people who would otherwise have gotten hired and won’t now.  Our estimates are that could be 700,000 people in California, something like 400,000 people in New York state.

And it seems odd to me that we would take money from someone who hasn’t gotten a job to give it to someone who has a job.  That’s a problem with the minimum wage.

ON LABOR DAY - $15 Minimum Wage

"How does the fight for $15 affect the labor market?" PBS NewsHour 9/7/2015

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SUMMARY:  Three years since a small group of fast-food workers began protesting in demand of higher pay and better conditions, a minimum wage of $15 an hour is becoming a reality for many across the country.  Jeffrey Brown gets two perspectives from Michael Strain of the American Enterprise Institute and former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  It was just three years ago when more than 100 fast food workers in New York City first began walking off the job to demand higher wages and better working conditions.  Now a $15-an-hour minimum wage is becoming a reality for many low-wage workers across the country.

Jeffrey Brown has our Labor Day look.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  This summer has been a big one for the movement.  Los Angeles officials agreed to raise the minimum wage from $9 an hour to $15.  Mayors of eight other cities near San Francisco, including San Jose, are expected to soon endorse a similar plan.  And New York State is moving toward a $15-an-hour wage for all fast food workers; $15 has already been signed into law in other cities, including Seattle, with wages hiked gradually, depending on the city, between 2017 and 2021.

We look at the movement’s growing success and questions about its impact.

Robert Reich is former secretary of labor and now professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley.  He led a workers walkout at a McDonald’s in April.  His new book is called “Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few.”  And Michael Strain is an economist who studies labor market and wages.  He’s a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

And I want to welcome both of you.

Robert Reich, let me start with you.

Overview first.  Is it fair to see this movement as taking real hold and why do you think it has picked up so much momentum?

ROBERT REICH, Former U.S. Labor Secretary:  Jeff, I do think that it is taking hold.

I think it’s picked up momentum because, for one thing, the minimum wage in real terms, adjusted for inflation, keeps on dropping.  If we had the same minimum wage we had as in 1968, adjusted for inflation, it would be over $10 today.

I think a lot of people who are middle class, lower middle class and poor are just saying, look, this is just simply unfair.  And, finally, you have got a lot of middle class who are people are saying, we’re paying more and more taxes to keep working people out of poverty, which is effectively a subsidy to all of these low-wage employers.  And that’s not fair either.

JEFFREY BROWN:  Michael Strain, how do you assess the strength of the movement and what is behind it?

MICHAEL STRAIN, American Enterprise Institute:  Well, I think there’s no question that the movement is strong and seems to be growing stronger and, by their metrics of success, they have racked up some real victories.

I think if we raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour or similar levels in these cities, it will create winners, it will create losers.  In my judgment, there are going to be more losers than winners.  I think it’s a very risky strategy.  But I certainly understand what’s motivating these workers and these organizers, and I admire the goal, which is to help the working poor and working class Americans.

WASHINGTON STATE SUPREME COURT - SeaTac Looses Minimum Wage Exclusion

Also for the company Greed Files.

"Court gives SeaTac workers a raise after $15 minimum wage exclusion" PBS NewsHour 8/27/2015

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SUMMARY:  In SeaTac, Washington, home of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, citizens voted in 2013 to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.  But airport businesses challenged the law in court, excluding 5,000 or so workers from receiving the increased benefits.  Now the State Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the employees.  Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Now, how low-paid workers are winning some key battles.

Today, the National Labor Relations Board ruled a large company could be held responsible for labor decisions held by a contractor it hires, even if it doesn’t directly supervise the employee.  That could mean unions may be able to negotiate directly with McDonald’s Corporation, for example, instead of just its franchises.

That win comes after another recent victory over a wage hike at Washington’s Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.  The state’s Supreme Court ruled last week that employers must pay workers $15 an hour.  Airport businesses had challenged a 2013 referendum.

Our economics correspondent, Paul Solman, has updated his report.

Here’s a reprise of his Emmy-nominated story.  It’s part of our weekly story Making Sen$e, which airs every Thursday on the news hour.

PAUL SOLMAN (NewsHour):  A lot was at stake last week in SeaTac, Washington, home of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, as local citizens decided the fate of a proposition to jack up the minimum wage there to $15 an hour, for thousands of workers, the promise of a huge pay hike, 63 percent if they were making the state minimum of $9.19 an hour, plus paid sick leave, which promised to be a benefit for the flying public as well.

WOMAN:  Every employee that I work with comes to work sick because they have to put food on the table.

ABDIRAHMAN ABDULLAHI, Car Rental Employee:  Imagine you’re flying on an airplane.  The worker who clean up the airplane before you fly, he was sick and he’s cleaning the airplane, imagine you eating on that table, you know?

PAUL SOLMAN:  But higher costs would boomerang against low-income workers, business spokesman Maxford Nelson insisted.

MAXFORD NELSON, The Freedom Foundation:  The workers who retain their jobs might be better off, but an increased number of other workers lose their jobs entirely.

PAUL SOLMAN:  A bitter, costly campaign ensued, a recount, and, in the end, the ayes had it by 77 votes.

But, on decision day, Alaska Airlines, the main opponent of the $15 minimum wage proposition, filed a lawsuit in county court, arguing that a city can’t set ordinances for an airport operating within its borders.

JOBS - Home Care Workers Wages

"Why home care workers struggle with low wages" PBS Newshour 3/16/2015

Because money-before-people Republicans will block any attempt for fair wages.

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SUMMARY:  With most aging Americans wanting to stay in their own homes, the need for in-home caregivers is skyrocketing.  But unlike most other jobs, there's no federal guarantee that these workers get minimum wage or overtime.  Special correspondent Kathleen McCleery reports on the challenge of getting care that’s reasonably priced while still paying caretakers a living wage.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  We now turn to another in our occasional series on long-term care.

As Americans age, most prefer to stay in their own homes and get help when needed with the basics of daily living.  A nationwide campaign kicked off last week calling attention to the jobs and the wages of home care workers.

Special correspondent Kathleen McCleery reports.

OLA MAE JONES:  Good morning.

THERESA KING:  Good morning.

It’s a passion job, so it takes a lot of patience, a lot of kindness.

KATHLEEN MCCLEERY (NewsHour):  In Long Beach, California, Theresa King cares for 88-year-old Ola Mae Jones, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease.

THERESA KING:  I’m cooking you some fish.

KATHLEEN MCCLEERY:  From cooking, to cleaning, to comfort.

THERESA KING:  Don’t you love me, huh?

KATHLEEN MCCLEERY:  The job is physically demanding and emotionally draining.  King makes $9.70 cents an hour, almost exactly the average for the nation’s two million home care workers.

THERESA KING (singing):  I want to shout about it.

KATHLEEN MCCLEERY:  About 90 percent are women.  Half are people of color.  Like King, many don’t work full-time and don’t get benefits.  She qualifies for food stamps and says, on her income, she can’t afford some basic necessities.

EMPLOYMENT - More 'Meat-On-Bone' Jobs

"Revved up employment growth offers ‘meat-on-the-bone’ jobs, but mostly more minimum wage" PBS NewsHour 12/5/2014

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JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  Let’s take a deeper dive into today’s surprising good labor news.

Jobs growth revved up last month with more than 300,000 added.  At this pace, the economy is on track to produce the largest number of jobs in 15 years.

One development that also caught much attention, average hourly wages rose higher than expected, the largest increase since June of last year.

Even so, earnings have grown a sluggish 2 percent in the past year.

Hari Sreenivasan has the story from our New York studios.

HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  I’m joined by Diane Swonk, an economist with Mesirow Financial, a financial services firm.

So, what’s behind the higher number today?

DIANE SWONK, Mesirow Financial:  Well, a lot of good news.

We had actually some meat-on-the-bone jobs in things like business services.  That’s an area that was really hard-hit during the recession.  It includes everything from accountants, technical consultants, engineers, architects.  That’s the good news.

We saw those meat-on-the-bone jobs.  We also some manufacturing and construction jobs, off a low base, but still some jobs in those sectors. And then there was this huge hiring in retail, also in food, restaurants, all those kind of areas that are more…

HARI SREENIVASAN:  Just from the holiday season?

DIANE SWONK:  Holiday hires, but not just holiday hires; 20 percent of the retail hiring was in the auto sector to sell cars.  That’s not really what we tend to buy as gifts for the holiday season.

JOBS - The 'Living Wage' Fight in U.S. Cities

"New York City, LA among cities moving to raise minimum wage" PBS NewsHour 10/5/2014

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HARI SREENIVASAN (NewsHour):  Some of America’s biggest and most expensive cities are acting on their own to increase the minimum wage.  For some insight yesterday I spoke to Matt Flegenheimer, a reporter with the New York Times.

New York did something recently, so did L.A., what did they do?

MATT FLEGENHEIMER, New York Times:  So, in New York at least on Tuesday, Mayor DeBlasio signed an executive order essentially expanding a law that was passed in 2012 – over the objections of Mayor Bloomberg – which stipulated that on city subsidized projects, workers were entitled to a what’s called a ‘living wage’.

At this point it would be $13.13 as the minimum.  Sort of a wide expansion compared to what we saw a couple of years ago.

Any tenants or subtenants on projects that receive city subsidies now are entitled to that wage, it is about 18,000 workers by the administration’s estimate.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  OK and this is if it goes through and makes it through city council, right?

MATT FLEGENHEIMER:  No, this is an executive order, which is sort of a sticking point.  Some of the council members have kind of chafed at being bypassed in this case.  They probably would have supported it.  It has been a very sort of compliant council here in New York.  But the mayor did this on his own.

HARI SREENIVASAN:  And Eric Garcetti in Los Angeles trying a little something different.

MATT FLEGENHEIMER:  A little bit different.  So, there are a couple of things going on there.  The sort of broader minimum wage package he is pushing for I believe $13.25 and then for hotel workers – in a lot of cases – they have gone for sort of an expansive move through the council as well, which has been faced with some opposition obviously from some of the business groups who have said that this could cost jobs in the long run potentially if workers don’t want to, rather, if employers don’t want to pay these wages to workers, they’ll take their jobs elsewhere, so there’s been a bit of a debate there over that.

AMERICA - Life on Minimum Wage

"What quality of life can workers earning nation’s highest minimum wage afford?" PBS NewsHour 5/22/2014

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GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  The battle over the minimum wage heated up across the country today, as fast-food workers in several cities launched a one-day strike.

Outside Chicago, near the corporate home of McDonald’s, workers protested as the company held its annual meeting.  More than 100 were arrested.  The workers are demanding minimum pay of $15 an hour, which brings us to the question:  What is it like to live on minimum wage, even in a state with the highest wage in the country?

The NewsHour’s economics correspondent, Paul Solman, profiles two people dealing with that question, all part of his reporting Making Sense of financial news.

TERRAN LYONS, Crew Trainer, McDonald’s:  Everything just seems to be going wrong, you know?  So, I’m just — I’m trying to be responsible and fix it, but it’s stressing me out.

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL SOLMAN (NewsHour):  Terran Lyons was talking about her car, but it may as well have been her life.  The 25-year-old single mother of two, a high school dropout, works as a crew trainer at a McDonald’s in Seattle, earning $9.85 an hour, just above the state minimum wage of $9.32.

Using her federal earned income tax refund, she moved to a cheaper suburb 30 miles south, close to her mother, who watches the kids while she works, and bought a 17-year-old car for the commute.

TERRAN LYONS:  Car’s the quickest way for me to get there, because on the bus, I will be on there for three hours.

SEATTLE - Battle Over the Minimum Wage

"How much does it really cost to live in a city like Seattle?" PBS NewsHour 4/22/2014

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GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  The battle over raising the minimum wage may be at a stalemate in Washington, D.C., right now, but, in Washington State, the fight is still under way.

Our economics reporter, Paul Solman, has the next in his series of stories on that subject, this one on just how much it really costs to live in a city like Seattle.

It’s part of his ongoing reporting Making Sense of financial news.

PAUL SOLMAN (NewsHour):  In Seattle this spring, rallies to raise the minimum wage, but not to the $10.10 being debated nationally.  Here, they’re talking about $15 an hour citywide, 62 percent higher than this year’s inflation index state minimum wage of $9.32, already highest in the nation.

PHILIP LOCKER, Socialist Alternative Party:  Wall Street and big business crashed the economy.  They got bailed out.  They’re making record profits.  But working people are faced with what?  Poverty wages, low wages, McJobs, student debt.  What’s our future?
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PAUL SOLMAN:  Seattle multimillionaire investor and entrepreneur Nick Hanauer is a leader of the $15 wage movement, but he still helps run his family’s pillow company.

NICK HANAUER:  And, indeed, we have factories where we do not pay workers $15.  If my competitors pay $10 and we pay $15, we will surely go out of business.  A great challenge we face in the city of raising the minimum wage to $15 is precisely that dynamic.

PAUL SOLMAN:  But, look, says Hanauer, every economic decision involves tradeoffs.  It boils down to weighing the costs against the benefits.

And in this case:

NICK HANAUER:  The benefits overwhelm the costs.  When worker compensation goes up, everyone benefits, right, because those workers both go buy more stuff and need less services from taxpayers.

MINIMUM WAGE - Look at Seattle-Tacoma Airport Deal

"SeaTac airport workers fight exclusion from $15 minimum wage" PBS NewsHour 4/17/2014

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GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  We move now to the Pacific Northwest and part one of a Paul Solman series on the debate over raising the minimum wage.

Tonight, he has the latest on a story he first brought to our attention last fall.

It part of his ongoing reporting Making Sense of financial news.

PAUL SOLMAN (NewsHour):  A lot was at stake last November in SeaTac, Washington, home of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, as local citizens decided the fate of a proposition to jack up the minimum wage there to $15 an hour, for thousands of workers, the promise of a huge pay hike, 63 percent if they were making the state minimum of $9.19 an hour, plus paid sick leave, which promised to be a benefit for the flying public as well.

WOMAN: Every employee that I work with comes to work sick because they have to put food on the table.

ABDIRAHMAN ABDULLAHI, Employee, Sea-Tac’s Hertz Car Rentals:  Imagine you’re flying on an airplane.  The worker who clean up the airplane before you fly, he was sick and he’s cleaning the airplane, imagine you eating on that table, you know?