Minimum Wage Increase Passes

November 8, 2006, JEFFERSON CITY, MO – On Tuesday November 7, Missouri voters passed Proposition B which raises the minimum wage in Missouri from $5.15 an hour to $6.50 an hour with increases tied to the Consumer Price Index.

“We are pleased that Missouri voters recognize the need for an increase in wages for those at the bottom of the economic ladder,” said Deacon Larry Weber, Executive Director of the Missouri Catholic Conference. “Studies show that 70 percent of workers affected by the minimum wage are predominately adult women and minorities and that 30 percent of minimum wages workers are the sole wage earner in their family.”

Research demonstrates that contrary to popular opinion raising the minimum wage does not so much benefit middle class teenagers as it does those who earn a living for themselves and their families working minimum wage jobs.

Missouri law does not set a dollar minimum but rather adopts the federal minimum wage by reference. The federal minimum wage has not been raised since 1996. Because of increases in the cost-of-living, the current minimum wage of $5.15 an hour is at its lowest value in more than 50 years.

Proponents say raising the minimum wage will benefit more than a quarter million people in the state of Missouri and pump $21 million into the economy. They reject opponents’ claim that raising the minimum wage will result in fewer employment opportunities. Deacon Weber said, “In the four years after the last federal minimum wage increase, the economy experienced its strongest growth in over three decades.”

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has long supported an increase in the federal minimum wage. The USCCB’s Office of Social Development and World Peace stated in their February 2006 Statement on Minimum Wage, “In Catholic teaching, the principle of a living wage is integral to our understanding of human work. Wages must be adequate for workers to provide for themselves and their families in dignity.”

“The church teaches that work is more than just a job, it is the way people ordinarily meet their material needs and community obligations,” Deacon Weber said. “Wages should allow workers to adequately provide for these needs in a dignified manner.” Missouri voters showed their appreciation for this principle by their overwhelming support for Proposition B.