Raising the wage in San Jose makes plenty of good sense when one looks at the reality of the situation we ( we San Jose-nians) have to deal with. I'll give you TEN reasons to Raise the Wage in San Jose
1. The minimum wage has NOT increased in four years! Unlike food, gas, school all have increased. (Just doesn't make sense; does it?)
The federal minium wage is $7.25 though the federal minimum wage would now be at $10.40 per hour if it kept up with the rising cost of living since 1968!!!
2. The average rent in San Jose is $1600, increasing at 6.8% per year all the while official unemployment rate stands at 10.6% . . . still just doesn't make any sense?!?!
3. Raising the wage is a "
key part of economic recovery" meaning that it's NEVER a wrong time to raise the wage. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, every $1/hr increase for a minimum wage worker results in $2,800 in new consumer spending by the household over the following year.
Increasing the wage will pump money back into our local economy, that's just what we need here!!!
4. Big chain stores can afford paying our employed community members $10/hr, yet most refuse to do so. The largest share of grow domestic production have been corporate profit since 1950! Salaries and Wages are the lowest share of GDP.
5. The largest corporations hold on to $1.9 trillion in cash refusing to expand and hire since demands for goods are services are weak SO if they raise the wage for their employees here in San Jose, more people will be purchasing goods.
6. 76% of low wage workers are adults not teens, they have to contribute to their household income making $8/hr. We want our families in San Jose to be better off because we know that right now with a salary of $8/hr, they are not well off.
7. A
higher minimum wage DOES NOT cause job losses. Academic research has found that raising the minimum wage increase incomes of low paid workers does not in fact lead to job loss.
I hear one of people's main concern is that they fear that job loss will occur if we raise the wage but thats not the actual case. Here's another way to think of it; if we don't raise the wage and pump some money into our local economy soon then job loss will occur even more!!
8. I would love to see us in San Jose, get a little bit closer to the decline of growing inequality in our country. I believe our community members deserve a raise. The rich do not need to get richer here.
9. States with minimum wages above the federal level have had faster small business and retail job growth.
A 2006 fiscal policy institute study examined growth in employment from 1998 to 2003 for small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, and found that employment in small businesses grew faster with minimum wages above the federal minimum wage than in states where the federal minimum of $5.15 an hour prevailed.
10. If we raise the wage in San Jose with this proposition
40k people will be impacted starting the next year in January! Also, 36k will benefit from this.
Meaning roughly 86k people in San Jose will be impacted positively from this proposition.
Now what's not to love?
