Publications -- Minimum Wage

Apr 22, 1998

BA #261 – The Middle-Class Tax Squeeze

Since the sweeping tax cuts of 1981, little has been done to directly benefit middle-income American families - those with taxable earnings between $30,000 and about $65,000 a year. During that period, federal taxes have been raised eight times, with only one small tax cut in 1997. The latest figures from the Tax Foundation show that the taxes have been ratcheted upward so that in 1997 the total burden of federal, state and local taxes on a median-income two-earner family was 38.2 percent of income.

Apr 07, 1998

BA #260 – Comp Time: Giving Hourly Workers What Money Can't Buy

What benefit do salaried workers, including federal government employees, have that is unavailable to workers who are paid by the hour? They have the option of choosing "comp time" - time off from the job to compensate for overtime already worked. A bill that would give millions of hourly workers freedom of choice in the workplace passed the House last year (H.R. 1), and the Senate will consider similar legislation, known as the Family Friendly Workplace Act (S. 4), this year.

May 29, 1996

BA #204 – The Complex Dynamics Of Raising The Minimum Wage

Both proponents and opponents of a federally mandated increase in the minimum wage are framing the issue in the wrong terms.

Apr 24, 1996

BA #201 – The Minimum Wage Trap

With the exception of the Card-Krueger findings, virtually every major study that has ever been done has found significant job losses from an increase in the minimum wage. But even if one accepts the Card-Krueger findings, evidence of other unfavorable effects makes an overwhelming case that the minimum wage should not be raised and that, in fact, abolishing it would do more for those it is intended to help.

Feb 01, 1995

ST #190 – Why the Minimum Wage Law Causes Unemployment

The minimum wage increase proposed by President Clinton would do little to reduce poverty. Instead, it would cause real hardship for some low-income Americans, the very people it is designed to help.