Raise DC's Minimum Wage, that is all

This weekend I’ll be writing a paper on raising the minimum wage.  I haven’t seen much movement on raising the minimum wage with all the fake crisis we’ve had.  However, the DC Council has moved to raise the minimum wage  to $11.50, which would be one of the highest minimum wages in the country, of course it is still too low. Benjamin Freed had piece on it for the Washingtonian.  

As a reminder, DC couldn’t force Walmart to pay living wages, but now the DC Council is ready to try again through a city-wide minimum wage hike to $11.50 an hour, which is an increase of $3. Council member Vincent Orange said he’d combine four bills into a final one to be introduced, and the vote would be scheduled for mid-December. Happy Holidays low-wage employees.

Right not DC’s minimum wage is $8.25 an hour, which is only one dollar more than the federal standard. Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, and DC have agreed on a multi-jurisdictional standard at $11.50 per hour.  DC Council voted to override the mayor’s veto in a 7-6 vote. The new bill would raise the minimum wage over three installments reaching $11.50 by July 1, 2016.

A few cities have higher minimum wages including San Francisco that has a minimum wage of $10.76 and rises with inflation. Mike McGinn, Seattle’s Mayor, has proposed raising the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour.  Personally, I think the $15 per hour should be the minimum wage and then it should be tied to a living wage standard.