So, as you may or may not have heard, the Connecticut House has overridden one of Governor Rell's vetoes, regarding a law to raise the Connecticut minimum wage from $7.65 an hour to $8.00 an hour, taking effect on January 1, 2009. The vote was razor-thin, as 102-39 voted to override, and 101 were needed.
Now I'm not claiming to know much about economics. I don't know if this minimum wage increase is going to help the economy rebound by helping employees, as its proponents claim, or if it will hurt small business owners, as Rell and others claimed. I won't take sides on the economic theory side of the issue.
On the human side of the issue, I am very glad that this law was passed. From a personal perspective, of course I would be, because I'm a teenager earning less than $8.00 an hour, so this will increase my income next year. But on a grander scale, I think that this increase will help a lot of people. And no, I don't mean the teenagers working summer jobs so that they can have fun during the school year. I'm talking about the working poor of Connecticut. According to some state sites, there are about 65,000 people in Connecticut who earn less than $7.65 an hour. Adding to this the amount of people who earn less than $8.00 an hour, and will be helped by the increase, there are a substantial number of people earning minimum wage to try and make ends meet. Imagine trying to support a family, or even yourself on $7.65 an hour. We did the math in my English class last year, and even supporting yourself is difficult.
Whether or not it will help the economy as a whole, I am glad that this law was overridden by the House, as it will help a lot of individuals. However, please not that this has not yet been passed, as it still must be overridden by the Senate. But the Courant predicts that it will be, and I trust that their knowledge of our state Senators' voting tendencies is sufficient to assume that this will be passed into law.
http://www.ctemploymentlawblog.com/2008/06/articles/legislative-issues/update-conn-house-overrides-veto-in-minimum-wage/
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2008/rpt/2008-R-0285.htm
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Connecticut Minimum Wage Increase
Posted by Sam at 11:00 AM
Labels: Democrat, Legislation, Republican, Voting
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5 comments:
great article
Good to hear, especially for us young CT workers!
To be serious though, the economy isn't doing so well. I'm not sure what conventional wisdom says that when the economy is tanking we shouldn't do anything about it, but I certainly don't subscribe to it. I say we give it a shot and see how it works. At least the legislature is trying to do something.
I feel like many people who are better off may say that this is a bad idea when there is such an economic depression right now. But, as a 17 year old, most of my friends make minimum wage and any raise in that minimum wage is good for us kids. You can also say that if you give teenagers more money to spend then they will spend more money and have a greater chance of stimulating the economy. There is two sides to every story, but although i live on the opposite side of the country, I am glad to hear it!
Considering good ol' CT has some of the steepest gas prices in the country, it's the least they can to to help...in one hour, you could make enough extra money to bring the cost down to only $4 per gallon...assuming it doesn't go up even further by January, which we all know it will.
I'm trying to shed a humorous light on the economic and energy situations. I don't think I did a very good job.
Hey, I just helped prep for a report to Blumenthal on this :)
To play devil's advocate, there are many reasons a leader may not want minimum wage raised. Of course, those reasons often coincide with republican-esque economic policy. Personally, I think it's a great idea. It's happening on a national level, and Connecticut should be a leader in this area.
To continue on the topic of Economy, there are many reasons why the United States has suddenly took a turn for the worst. One reason (a major one) has nearly nothing to do with political parties, but rather with investors. I would encourage one of the admins to do an article on speculative/futures trading (another Blumenthal topic), especially by such companies as the ICE, and really look at what effect this type of (sometimes unregulated) trading does for the United States economy in particular. Very interesting stuff. But there is a lot to it, so be prepared to spend a lot of time reading. I would encourage everyone to read congressional testimony by experts, as well as see what the companies who deal in futures trading, especially index futures trading, say. Again, it's heavy stuff, especially if you haven't studied finance at all, but it is extremely relevant.
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