President-elect Joe Biden (C), along with Democratic candidates in the United States Senate Jon Ossoff (L) and the Rev. Raphael Warnock (R), greet supporters during a campaign rally the day before his second choice in the parking lot of the Centerparc stadium in Atlanta.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
A $ 15 federal minimum wage approached after Georgia’s Tuesday election, which seems likely to reverse Senate control and unify the government under the Democratic Party.
This wage increase would be more than double the current federal minimum wage, $ 7.25 per hour, but would likely face resistance from some Republicans and business groups.
The Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, won the U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia on Tuesday, beating Republican President Sen. Kelly Loeffler, according to NBC News projections.
Democrat Jon Ossoff was Republican leader David Perdue, whose senator expired Sunday in the other Georgia race, which was too close to be convened Wednesday at noon, according to NBC News.
Democratic victories in these contests would give Democrats control of the Senate, the House and the presidency. Congress is expected to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
“It’s absolutely a priority,” Markrate, a senior economic analyst at Bankrate, said of Democrats who passed legislation to set a higher wage.
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Democrats, especially those in the party’s liberal wing, have long been pressured to raise the national minimum wage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who normally votes with Democrats, said in a tweet Tuesday that there was a $ 15 minimum wage at stake in the Georgia election.
Proponents of wage increases argue that the current standard does not provide a livable wage for Americans.
$ 15,080 a year
The federal minimum wage, currently, $ 7.25 per hour, has not been raised since 2009. This salary translates to $ 15,080 for a full-time worker throughout the year, according to the National Employment Bill.
Its value has eroded over time, as wages do not increase along with the cost of living.
Warnock and Ossoff are advocating a minimum wage of $ 15, a point they have stressed many times in recent months. Biden pledged to raise the salary to $ 15 an hour. The House voted to do so in 2019.
Several states, cities, and counties have recently raised their minimum wages, many to $ 15 or more. Forty cities and counties will have reached or exceeded a minimum wage of $ 15 by the end of 2021, according to the National Employment Bill.
“Over the last 40 years, what we’ve seen in the United States is that workers’ wages have been crushed while shareholder returns have gone through the ceiling, ”Ossoff said. dit on the campaign trail.
A higher wage would disproportionately help Hispanic and black workers in other groups such as whites and Asians, the research shows. In December, Warnock described raising the minimum wage as a “matter of racial justice.”
Wage increases would come at a time when low-wage earners and racial minorities have been disproportionately affected by job loss and poverty during the Covid pandemic.
Opposition
However, passing this legislation is not a fact. If both Democrats win in Georgia, the Senate will split between 50 and 50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris able to cast a tiebreaker vote in favor of Democrats. This majority would shy away from the threshold to avoid an obstacle.
The Republican-controlled Senate did not vote on the Wage Increase Act after the bill passed the House in 2019.
Some business groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses, have expressed opposition, saying a national minimum wage of $ 15 would raise labor costs and push employers to lay off workers.
Small businesses, which are less likely to have cash reserves or profit margins to absorb higher labor costs, would carry the weight of these negative effects, the NFIB he said earlier this year.
Raising the salary gradually to $ 15 by 2025 would increase the salaries of 17 million Americans, according to estimates released by the Congressional Budget Office. About 10 million more people earning just over $ 15 an hour could also earn a salary. But 1.3 million other workers would lose their jobs, according to estimates.
The momentum seems to be with Democrats on this issue because of overwhelming public support, however, Hamrick said.
“The economy was able to bear the weight of this increase [in 2009]”, Said Hamrick.” Viouslybviament that year was a challenge for other reasons [due to the Great Recession], but no one looks back in 2009 and says, “It was a big policy mistake.”