SAN ANTONIO – Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT, and nearly 200 of his colleagues in Congress have introduced legislation that would raise the federal minimum wage to $17 by the year 2028.
The Raise the Wage Act of 2023 also has support from nearly 50 labor organizations across the country including the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).
“The $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage is a starvation wage. It must be raised to a living wage – at least $17 an hour,” Sanders said in a statement.
Sanders and his supporters estimate this move could help 28 million Americans.
However, Trinity economics professor Dr. David Macpherson believes it would hurt, not help.
"It's not an efficient way to help low-income workers,” The professor said.
Dr. Macpherson and his colleague Dr. William Even of Miami University conducted an analysis for the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) that shows more than a million Americans would lose their jobs if this Act was passed and voted into law.
According to the new EPI report, the nation could expect to lose more than 1.2 million jobs just by raising the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour.
The analysis shows that tipped employees, such as restaurant workers, would be affected even more.
Sanders wants to see tipped employees like restaurant workers be paid $17 an hour too.
Currently, they make $2.13 an hour under the tip credit model, with the vast majority of their wages coming from gratuities.
The tip model allows tipped employees to...
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