Senate Passes Bill to Increase Minimum Wage

The Senate on Tuesday passed a bill that will restore the value of the minimum wage in Massachusetts by increasing the minimum wage to $11 by 2016 and tying future increases to the Consumer Price Index for the Northeast region. The bill also increases wages for tipped workers to 50 percent of the minimum wage.

Adjusting for inflation, the minimum wage in 1968 would be worth $10.72 today. A full-time minimum wage worker in 1968 earned $21,400 in today’s dollars, about $5,400 dollars more than a full-time minimum wage worker today.

The poverty rate in Massachusetts has increased by 20 percent since 2006 and the child poverty rate has increased by 25 percent. Poverty is linked with negative health outcomes and lower academic achievement. In addition, the school dropout rate for low-income families is 4.5 times higher than for others.

“The passage of this bill is a very important milestone in our efforts to raise families out of poverty and improve the quality of life for all residents of the Commonwealth,” said Senator Jehlen. “The positive impacts of raising the minimum wage will be seen in more ways than one, such as in our education system, where reducing poverty will go a long way in closing the achievement gap of students across the board.”

“This bill offers a much-needed helping hand to many of our residents and takes us one step closer to providing a living wage in the Commonwealth,” Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) said. “We are facing a huge income gap that only continues to widen, where the workers at the top see large wage increases and the workers at the bottom are at a standstill. That needs to change. Increasing the minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2016 will directly affect nearly half a million minimum wage and low-wage workers in Massachusetts.”

“Today’s vote is a victory for working people across this Commonwealth,” said Senator Dan Wolf (D-Harwich). “As a matter of fundamental fairness and economic policy, helping hardworking people and stimulating economic growth, restoring the minimum wage is the right thing to do. The great benefits that we reap in restoring the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation are not simply economic. Our neighborhoods will be stronger, our middle class will be stronger, our state will be stronger, our moral foundation will be stronger–all of us will be stronger.”

The legislatures in four other states, California, Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island, enacted bills to increase the minimum wage starting in 2014. In addition, New Jersey voters approved a Constitutional amendment this month to raise the minimum wage in 2014 and tie increases to cost of living.

Under this bill, Massachusetts will join ten other states that currently index the minimum wage to inflation.

The bill now goes to the House of Representatives.

– Information from State Senator Pat Jehlen’s office