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"California is very, very close to making a $10 minimum wage a reality. Doi
ng so nationwide would change the lives of America?s working poor.
A June study by Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, a national organiz
ation focusing on racial equity in the restaurant industry, found that (sta
tistic #1) a $10.10 minimum wage would have pulled roughly 58 percent of th
e nation?s 10.4 million working poor out of poverty in 2011.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the working poor as such:
"The working poor are persons who spent at least 27 weeks in the labor
force (that is, working or looking for work) but whose incomes still fell b
elow the official poverty level."
It should be noted that California?s $10 minimum wage, if enacted, would
not become law until Jan. 1, 2016. By that time, rising prices may have lim
ited the ability of a $10 minimum wage to pull the working poor out of pove
rty (remember, the ROC United study is based on 2011 data).
Many in California will certainly welcome the change, inflation or not. Acc
ording to a May report, cited by the Los Angeles Times, some one-third of t
he state's working families qualify as low-income, and (statistic #2) Calif
ornia has the highest total number of working poor families in the country.
Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement Wednesday that a bill to raise the sta
te?s minimum wage to $10 per hour was ?overdue.? The bill was passed
by the state?s legislature Thursday and now awaits the governor?s offic
ial approval.
Certain states index their minimum wages and could also theoretically reach
the $10 plateau by 2016. But the California bill would make the state the
first to guarantee it, according to the Wall Street Journal.
President Barack Obama pushed for a $9 minimum wage in his 2012 State of th
e Union address. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 and hasn?t been increa
sed since 2009."