$5.15: A Minimum Wage That Is Long Overdue

In a lopsided 74-24 vote, the Senate on Tuesday approved the first increase in the minimum wage in six years. The House took similar action in May. Both bills would raise the minimum hourly wage from $4.25 to $5.15 in two steps over the next year. It’s time.

Now the question is whether Republicans will play political hardball as a House-Senate conference committee is put together to reconcile the two bills. Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) has threatened to delay the appointment of Senate conferees. Any dillydallying could put the new minimum wage on the books just about the time of the final push of the presidential campaign--not smart tactical planning by the GOP. President Clinton and Senate Democrats already are gleefully declaring victory over Republicans on this issue.

Many Republicans do not want to be on the opposing side of raising the minimum wage because an increase is widely favored by Americans--surveys indicate that about 80% favor a higher minimum, in part as a reward for the work ethic. GOP leaders in the Senate waged a fierce and unsuccessful effort to reduce the scope of the increase, add exemptions and delay its effective date. Republican Sens. Alfonse M. D’Amato of New York, Mark Hatfield of Oregon, Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and James M. Jeffords of Vermont broke ranks and voted against the exemptions, clearing the bill for a full Senate vote.

An increase in the minimum is in fact long overdue for the working poor. Opponents point to studies suggesting that a higher minimum wage would push unskilled workers into the ranks of the unemployed. But several other studies made after the last two minimum wage increases--effective in 1990 at $3.80 an hour and in 1991 at $4.25--found no significant effect on employment. Studies don’t resolve this issue. What is clearly resolved in the minds of most Americans, however, is that they want to see work encouraged and appropriately compensated.