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Four things to know about Obama’s minimum wage increase
Last night, President Obama proposed increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9, and then indexing it to inflation. That’s a 25 percent initial boost, and a boost of 1 percent to 2 percent, at a...
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Economists disagree on whether the minimum wage kills jobs. Why?
What happens when the minimum wage goes up? In theory, this should be simple. A hike in the minimum wage raises the cost of low-wage workers. That should make firms less likely to hire those people....
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This graph is the best argument for raising the minimum wage
This is the chart that should begin all discussions of the minimum wage, and whether we need to increase it: That red line is corporate profits since 1970. The blue line is labor’s share of income....
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Economists think minimum wage is worth it
The IGM Forum, which is run by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, polled top economists on the minimum wage. The first question they asked was whether raising the minimum wage could...
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A $15 minimum wage is a terrible idea
Nick Hanauer delivering a TED talk, which was later shelved. (TED) Raising the minimum wage is so hot right now. President Obama, of course, proposed increasing the federal minimum from $7.25 to $9 an...
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Wal-Mart’s threatening to pull out of D.C. if it has to pay a higher minimum...
One of the stores that wouldn’t get built if Wal-Mart makes good on its threat. (A&R Co.) For two and a half years now, Washington has been trying to figure out what, if anything, to do about the...
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McDonald’s wages are rising fastest in Russia, and other facts about fast...
For the past several days, hundreds of workers have been picketing Wendy’s, KFC, McDonald’s and other fast food joints around the country to protest rock-bottom pay, demanding a raise to about double...
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The U.S. has a $7.25 minimum wage. Australia’s is $16.88
Minimum wage advocates love to point to Australia’s $16.88 an hour minimum as evidence that a very high wage floor needn’t stifle a country’s growth. After all, Australia hasn’t had a recession in 20...
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Why franchises are such a huge obstacle to higher wages
Here's a problem for the protesters demonstrating at fast-food restaurants across the country to demand $15 an hour: Whom are they talking to, exactly? A global megacorporation or a locally-owned small...
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Nobel-winner Edmund Phelps on his plan to help low-wage workers — without...
Edmund Phelps is the director of the Center on Capitalism and Society at Columbia University and dean of the New Huadu Business School of China and Switzerland. He was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in...
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Congress lowers the ceiling on contractor pay. It could affect more workers...
This week, the Senate is expected to vote on a budget that will likely -- at long last -- lower the amount that a federal contractor's salary can bill the federal government. That will be the first...
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SeaTac’s minimum wage workers might not get their raise after all
At SeaTac International Airport just south of Seattle, Wash., "rampers" are the guys who heave baggage off planes and into trucks, in the baking sun and the freezing cold and rain, amid roar of jet...
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Economists agree: Raising the minimum wage reduces poverty
One funny part of watching journalists cover the minimum wage debate is that they often have to try and referee cutting-edge econometric debates. Some studies, notably those lead by UMass Amherst...
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Obama is boosting the minimum wage for federal contractors. Here’s how.
In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama is planning to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour. Here's how this all works: A...
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Should we extend unemployment insurance — and cut the minimum wage?
Would it be better to cut the minimum wage and extend UI for these jobless Americans? (Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images) The political divide in the nation's debate over how best to repair the economy has...
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The inside story of how the White House learned to love the minimum wage
President Obama now favors a $10.10 an hour minimum wage, but his advisers initially worried about going that high. (Photo by Michael Reynolds/EPA) In recent weeks, President Obama has made a $10.10...
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Want to help the long-term unemployed? Try a two-tiered minimum wage.
(Mark Ralston-AFP/Getty Images) Rand Ghayad is a labor economist at Northeastern University and a research fellow at the MIT Institute for Career Transitions. He is the author of “The Jobless Trap.”...
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Waitresses of the world unite: The tipped minimum wage hasn’t increased in 23...
Probably underpaid. (Susana Gonzalez/Bloomberg News) Tipped workers have been getting short-changed for years. At least that's what the gap between the federally mandated regular minimum wage and...
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One in four Americans think poor people don’t work hard enough
The rich aren't rich because they work harder. (Paul Sakuma/AP Photo) America's long held infatuation with hard work might be eating into its understanding of inequality. A quarter of the country...
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