Congresswoman Lois Frankel today called on the House to consider legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10, after President Obama signed an executive order today to increase the minimum wage for federal contract workers.
"Anyone who puts in a hard day's should be able to make a decent living and that's why it is time for Congress to raise the minimum wage," Frankel said. "I stand with Floridians who want Congress to finish the job."
Frankel is supporting the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which would increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per house over three years. It would be especially significant for Florida low-wage workers. Florida has the second-largest number of people earning the minimum wage in the country. More than one million Florida workers would benefit if the minimum wage is raised because they now make less than $10.10 an hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute. The Economic Policy Institute also found that while phasing in a higher minimum wage, the U.S. economy would grow by about $22 billion and this growth would result in about 85,000 new jobs.
Florida's minimum wage rose by 14 cents on January 1. It's currently 68 cents higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, however Florida has a very large number of low-wage earners, mostly because of the large number of workers in hotels, restaurants and other service industries.
Nationally, nearly two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women. Boosting the minimum wage to $10.10 would raise the pay of 28 million workers nationwide and lift more than 4.5 million Americans out of poverty.