Nadasen: Federal minimum wage hike is a good start, but not enough

Check out a good op-ed by Premilla Nadasen in which she evaluates the new federal minimum wage hike. Some highlights:

Opponents of raising the minimum wage -- such as Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. -- erroneously suggest that the primary beneficiaries of a minimum-wage hike are teenagers living at home with their parents.

The reality is that 80 percent of those who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage are adults (over the age of 20), according to the Economic Policy Institute. Fifty-nine percent are women. Moreover, 1.2 million people who would see an increase in their wages are single parents with children under 18.

This is a measure that will aid the neediest American families that struggle paycheck to paycheck.

Despite its benefits, the new federal minimum wage is still far short of where we need to be. Once the increase has taken effect, a full-time employee working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, will earn only $15,080 a year. This is still below the poverty threshold for a family of three -- $17,170 -- as determined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

While an improvement, the new annual federal minimum wage is hardly enough to cover the costs of basic necessities, such as housing, health care, child care and rapidly rising food and energy costs.

If our elected officials want families to work and be self-supporting, then they need to ensure that work pays enough for a basic standard of living.

See the entire article here.