September 6, 2006 Dear Colleague:
Due to congressional inaction and lack of support from the current administration, the federal minimum wage has not been increased since September 1, 1997, nine years ago. Since that time, the value of the last increase has been completely eroded by inflation. We believe that a modest increase in the federal minimum wage is long overdue. While a phased-in increase from $5.15 to $7.25 may be a larger dollar amount than the last raise in the federal minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.15, a significantly smaller percentage of the workforce would be directly affected by the increase (8.9% then versus 5% now). Given this benchmark, we believe the increase would benefit the targeted workers and the overall economy. In 2004, a group of 562 economists signed a statement supporting an increase in the minimum wage. For those of you who signed that letter, we ask you to re-affirm your commitment to this issue by adding your name to the enclosed public statement. For those of you who did not sign the 2004 letter, we ask you to consider signing on to this endorsement of a minimum wage increase. To add your name to the list of signers, please email your reply to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or fax it to Attention: Economist Letter, 202-775-0819. We ask you to send your reply as soon as possible to ensure that your name is included among the signers. The deadline for signatures is September 30, 2006. We will, however, continue to accept signatures after that date and will try to include them in any document we publish. We hope you will join with us in this very important effort to improve the lives of low-wage workers and their families. Thank you for your help. Sincerely, Henry Aaron, The Brookings Institution Rebecca Blank, University of Michigan Alan S. Blinder, Princeton University Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Cornell University Clive Granger, University of California - San Diego Lawrence F. Katz, Harvard University Lawrence R. Klein, University of Pennsylvania Frank Levy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com
