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More than 20 states ring in the new year with a higher minimum wage

Jan 1, 2024
The highest state minimum wages as of Jan. 1, 2024 will be Washington state at $16.28 and California at $16. But is that really enough to live on?
 A nationwide livable wage would be close to $25 an hour, says Amy Glasmeier, a professor of economic geography at MIT.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

As jobs rebound, those paying least are hardest to fill

May 6, 2022
Health care, child care and K-12 education, which offer jobs with lower pay that need to be done in person, have yet to fully recover.
A company seeking aluminum workers posted an ad on a bus in Portland, Oregon. The private sector has been able to raise wages and hire people faster than the public sector.
Mitchell Hartman/Marketplace

Low wages and high costs clash in the home health care crisis for aging Americans

Apr 8, 2022
“We've never invested in the ability of families to afford the care that they need,” says Ai-jen Poo of the National Domestic Workers Alliance.
Baby boomers are retiring at a rate of 10,000 people per day, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Daniel Leal-Olivas-Pool/Getty Images

"The future of work is flexibility." Discuss.

May 6, 2021
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai used the phrase when announcing Google's move to a hybrid workweek.
"Quiet quitting" is the latest pandemic-driven workplace debate that points to burnout as a cause of decreased engagement and productivity.
Stefan Tomic via Getty Images

Pandemic exacerbated inequality worldwide, Amnesty International says

Apr 7, 2021
In many countries, those working in low-wage jobs or in the gig economy were left out of government relief packages.
New data from Robin Hood and Columbia University paint a picture of poverty in New York City amid multiple crises.
Brad Barket/Getty Images for Action/2015

Some local governments have started mandating hazard pay

Feb 19, 2021
But almost a year into the pandemic, most front-line workers are going without it.
Working on site during the pandemic is still hazardous, but many who do that receive no  hazard pay from their employers.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Minimum wage hikes have varying effects across nation

Dec 31, 2018
Twenty states are raising their minimum wages as we usher in 2019.
Workers celebrate outside the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles on April 4, 2016, after California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that will raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Low-wage workers seeing higher paychecks

Mar 9, 2018
The economy is strong, the labor market is tighter, and that’s giving all workers a bigger paycheck. Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

Workers are seeing wage gains, even in some of the lowest-paid jobs

Jul 20, 2017
We haven’t seen much in wage gains out of recent jobs reports from the Labor Department. The most recent one, for June, showed average hourly wages, as reported by employers, up just 2.5 percent over the past year, not much better than inflation. But another measure of income from the Labor Department, based on a […]

Why construction workers in LA make less than they used to

May 1, 2017
Here's where we talk about diminished unions and immigration.
“Construction employers have been complaining for a while that they can't find enough good people. They haven't as an entire industry raised wages much faster than average, but that may change,” said Los Angeles Times reporter Natalie Kitroeff.
David McNew/Getty Images