Support the Fair Minimum Wage Act

Media 01.19,07

Recipient: U.S. Senate

Dear Senator:


On behalf of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation’s oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, with nearly 200 member organizations, we urge you to support the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 (S. 2).  We strongly support a clean minimum wage bill and urge you to pass the measure without unnecessary business tax breaks.


The bill would effect a long overdue increase in the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour.  It has been 10 years since the last time the minimum wage was raised, and inflation has already wiped out that increase; in fact, the buying power of the minimum wage is now at its lowest point in over 50 years.  At today’s prices, it takes a minimum wage earner 8.7 hours – more than a full working day – to earn enough to fill a 20-gallon gas tank on the family car!  At the current wage, working 40 hours per week for 52 weeks earns only $10,700, barely enough to keep a single person over the federal poverty line; and working 60 hours per week without taking any time off still wouldn’t be enough to keep a family of three out of poverty. 


Of particular concern to LCCR, a disproportionate percentage of minimum wage earners are women and people of color. 



  • 59 percent of minimum wage workers are women, representing 14 percent of all women in the workforce.

  • 16 percent are African-American, though they make up only 11 percent of the workforce.

  • 19 percent are Hispanic, though they make up only 14 percent of the workforce.

  • Overall, 40 percent of minimum wage earners are people of color.

Increasing the minimum wage will also have a powerful impact on children.  Approximately 2.9 million parents of children under 18 earn minimum wage, a number that includes 1.4 million single parents.  Overall, 7.3 million children depend on parents who are minimum wage earners.


LCCR urges you to support swift passage of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 and oppose any attempts to add extraneous amendments, including unnecessary business tax cuts that would increase the federal deficit.  If you have any questions, please contact Nancy Zirkin, at (202) 263-2880, or David Goldberg, program manager and special counsel, at (202) 466-0087, regarding this or any issue important to LCCR.


Sincerely,


Wade Henderson,
President and CEO   


Nancy Zirkin,
Vice President