In Support of Raising the Federal Minimum Wage
Adopted at the 82nd Annual Meeting in 2014
WHEREAS, the nation s mayors are committed to providing economic growth and opportunity within their cities; and
WHEREAS, the growing inequality gap has left middle and working class families with less income to consume, leading to a decrease in demand and the shackling of the nation s economic growth; and
WHEREAS, the federal minimum wage, currently at $7.25 an hour, would be over $10.50 if it had kept up with inflation since 1968; and
WHEREAS, the federal minimum wage would be over $18 if it had kept up with worker productivity; and
WHEREAS, a full-time worker making the federal minimum wage and raising two children earns just $15,080 a year, $4,000 below the poverty line for a family of three; and
WHEREAS, a proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 would raise earnings for nearly 28 million workers by $35 billion; and
WHEREAS, increasing the spending ability of minimum wage workers through raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 would increase the demand for goods and services and generate $22 billion in economic activity; and
WHEREAS, more than 600 economists, including seven Nobel laureates, signed a letter supporting an increase in the minimum wage, saying,the weight of evidence now show[s] that increases in the minimum wage have had little or no negative effect on the employment of minimum-wage workers, even during times of weakness in the labor market ; and
WHEREAS, business owners realize the value of raising the minimum wage, with 82 percent of small business owners already paying their employees more than the minimum wage; and
WHEREAS, the federal government would save $46 billion over ten years in spending on the Supplemental Nutrition assistance Program, also known as food stamps, if the federal minimum wage were raised to $10.10; and
WHEREAS, women, who are nearly two-thirds of all workers paid the minimum wage or less, would benefit tremendously from an increase in the minimum wage; and
WHEREAS, that The United States Conference of Mayors has long promoted an agenda that would build an economy that works for everyone,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors hereby respectfully urges Congress to: Raise the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The United States Conference of Mayors is prepared to work with the Administration and Congress to further address the economic challenges facing our nation s cities; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors supports state and local government efforts to set their own minimum wages above the federal minimum wage to help its lowest paid workers keep pace with the rising cost of living.