[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H1341-H1342]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from North Carolina [Mrs. Clayton] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, the gap in income is growing between those 
who have a lot of money and those who have a little money. That is 
unacceptable in a stable and strong economy. According to Business 
Week, the income gap ``hurts the economy.''
  Almost half of the money in America is in the hands of just 20 
percent of the people. That top 20 percent is made up of families with 
the highest incomes. The bottom 20 percent has less than 5 percent of 
the money in their hands.
  A modest increase in the minimum wage could help the bottom 20 
percent, and it will not hurt the top 20 percent.
  [[Page H1342]] Between 1980 and 1992, income for the top 20 percent 
increased by 16 percent. During that same period, income for the bottom 
20 percent declined by 7 percent. For the first 10 of those 12 years, 
between 1980 and 1990, there were no votes to increase the minimum 
wage. Without an increase in the minimum wage, those with little money 
end up with less money. That is because the cost of living continues to 
rise.

                              {time}  1920

  By 1993, families in the top 20 percent had an average income of 
$104,616. Families in the bottom 20 percent in America only had an 
average income of just $12,964. That is a gap of more than $90,000.
  Mr. Speaker, that amount of money makes a big difference in the 
ability of families to buy food and shelter, to pay for energy to heat 
their homes, and to be able to clothe, care for, and educate their 
children. That amount of money makes the difference between families 
with abundance and families in poverty.
  An increase in the minimum wage will not provide abundance, but it 
can raise working families out of poverty.
  As income dropped for low-income families during the decade of the 
1980's, costs escalated. The earnings of the bottom 20 percent of 
families dropped by nearly $1,000 during that period. At the same time, 
the income of the top 20 percent of families climbed by almost $14,000. 
This gap cannot continue.
  While the income for the bottom 20 percent was declining, the rate of 
inflation for food, shelter, heating fuel, clothing, transportation, 
and medical care was increasing.
  In other words, Mr. Speaker, the cost of bread, milk, eggs, a place 
to sleep, heat, clothing to wear, a bus ride, and a visit to the doctor 
went up, as the income of poor people went down. The rate of inflation 
for each of those items increased, on average, 60 percent, with a low 
of 31 percent and a high of 117 percent.
  Despite these spiraling prices, Congress took no steps to increase 
the minimum wage, and poor people--the bottom 20 percent--became 
poorer. That deep valley remains with us today.
  The bottom 20 percent of our citizens can have a full-time employee 
in the family, working at least 40 hours a week, and still not be able 
to make ends meet--still living in poverty.
  At least, they can be working 40 hours and still not be out of 
poverty. Their earnings from those families have not gone up, and they 
need to go up and we need to reward work, not make it a penalty. Work 
is a burden when, despite an individual's best efforts, 40 hours of 
work, they find themselves paying more for the necessities of life and 
yet earning less as income.
  Other nations around the world have lessened that gap, have been 
faced with the same gap, but found ways to reduce that gap between 
those who lived at the top and those who are on the bottom.
  We pride ourselves on being competitive with France and Germany and 
Japan, but we are not really competitive in giving people a decent 
wage. The gap is much closer there than it is here. Additionally, a 
recent survey indicated job growth in America is the lowest where the 
income gap in the widest. When we have a wide gap, we really do not 
have a strong economy. So having a wide gap hurts our economy. Closing 
that gap helps everybody, and especially it helps those of the lowest. 
We should be about the record of establishing that we believe that all 
Americans have the right to a decent salary if they are willing to 
work.
  Mr. Speaker, New Jersey had such an experience. They raised the 
minimum wage and the States around them did not. At the same time, they 
saw jobs increase where their neighbors' jobs decreased.
  Mr. Speaker, we should be about raising the salary of those who work. 
The minimum wage is the least we should do. It is about being fair to 
citizens. It is about being fair to our economy, closing the gap 
between the upper 20 percent and the lower 20 percent.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to support the minimum wage.
  I urge all of my colleagues to at least do that.
  

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