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Minimum wage increase challenged
April 2005 · Craig Garthwaite · Foster's Daily Democrat
“But everyone else is doing it…” If you’ve got teenagers, you may have heard those words used to rationalize everything from raves to body piercings. Even as adults, many find it impossible to resist the siren call of peer pressure. Lawmakers in Concord, for example, are pushing to increase New Hampshire’s minimum wage by nearly 30 percent to bring the state into line with the rest of… -
Wal-Mart bill would hurt low-skill, entry level workers
April 2005 · Craig Garthwaite · Cumberland Times-News
Frustrated by their inability to win key organizing battles, labor unions have turned their attention from the workplace to statehouses across the country. Their most recent target is the state of Maryland, where organized labor is pushing legislation mandating employer-paid health benefits they have been unable win at the negotiating table. The recently debated Maryland Fair Share Act (SB 790/HB 1284) would require employers with more than… -
Wage Hike Won’t Work for Poor
April 2005 · Craig Garthwaite · Boston Herald
Gov. Mitt Romney seems an unlikely candidate for Ted Kennedy’s pinch hitter. Since the senator’s efforts to raise the national minimum wage struck out in Congress, though, Romney has stepped into the batter’s box to endorse proposals that would increase Massachusetts’ minimum wage to more than 60 percent above the current federal rate with annual adjustments for inflation. Although the governor has claimed that a higher minimum… -
Least-skilled workers lose with minimum-wage hike
March 2005 · Craig Garthwaite · Uniontown Herald-Standard
Some lawmakers are hailing a proposed 39% increase in Pennsylvania’s minimum wage as a life preserver for employees struggling in a stormy economic sea. But Harrisburg’s minimum wage bill ensures that the thousands of low-skilled Pennsylvanians who need entry-level employment opportunities will find it even more difficult to stay afloat. The statehouse ought to remember that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cautioned Congress just last summer against… -
Increasing minimum wage won’t help jobless
February 2005 · Craig Garthwaite · Duluth News-Tribune
Some lawmakers are hailing the proposed 36 percent increase in Minnesota’s minimum wage as a life preserver for employees struggling in a stormy economic sea. But St. Paul’s minimum wage bill ensures that the thousands of low-skilled Minnesotans who need entry-level employment opportunities will find it even more difficult to keep afloat. The statehouse ought to remember that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cautioned Congress just last… -
Raising New Jersey’s minimum wage is bad economic policy
February 2005 · Craig Garthwaite · Trenton Times
Some lawmakers are hailing the proposed 39% increase in New Jersey’s minimum wage as a life preserver for employees struggling in a stormy economic sea. But Trenton’s “heroics” ensure that thousands of low-skilled New Jersey residents who need entry-level employment opportunities will find it even more difficult to stay afloat. The State House ought to remember that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan cautioned Congress just last summer…