May 29, 2012. FPI’s analysis and commentary on the minimum wage issue has been highlighted in a number of recent news stories:

  • Report: 880,000 Workers In NY Would Benefit From Higher Minimum Wage – an article by Joseph Spector, Gannett News Service, May 24, 2012.
  • Wage Bill Would Benefit Bronx More than Other Counties, Report Says – an article by Patrick Wall, DNAinfo.com, May 24, 2012.
  • The minimum wage, tax cuts, and the New York legislature – an article by Jeremy Moule, Rochester City Newspaper News Blog, May 22, 2011.
  • Liberals Call for Cuomo to Champion Higher Wage – an article by John Eligon, New York Times, May 21, 2011.

    Because of the way the Cuomo administration has distributed federal social welfare dollars, “there’s much less money left over for a range of support services,” said Carolyn Boldiston, a senior analyst at the Fiscal Policy Institute.

  • Speaker Silver, Assembly Majority Announce Approval of Minimum Wage Bill; Legislation includes provision that would ensure minimum wage is adjusted for inflation annually – an article in the Saugerties Post-Star, May 16, 2012.
  • Honor Mom by raising the minimum wage – an op ed by Ana Oliveira, Albany Times-Union, May 11, 2012.

    According to the Fiscal Policy Institute, the additional money flowing into local businesses as a result of low-paid workers spending their higher wages in their local communities would create 7,500 jobs across the state.

    Women are small business owners, too, and the evidence from around the country is clear that modest minimum wage increases, as proposed, do not hurt small businesses or reduce total employment. In the years following the last increase in New York’s minimum wage, jobs kept growing in low-wage industries like retail and restaurants.

    Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Senate Majority Leader Skelos should step forward to join Silver on legislation to raise the minimum wage.

    On Mother’s Day, we salute our moms for their hard work and the sacrifices they make for us. There’s no better way to honor New York’s working moms than to raise the minimum wage.

  • The Fight for a Minimum Wage Increase in New York State – an op ed by Rubén Díaz Jr. and Jeffrey D. Klein, Huffington Post, May 4, 2012. The same piece, in Spanish, appeared in El Diario La Prensa on May 3, 2012: La lucha por el aumento del salario mínimo en Nueva York.
  • State Legislature Battles Over Minimum Wage Increase – an article by Igor Kossov, Gotham Gazette, May 2, 2012.
  • Assembly hears from the working poor: Gov. Cuomo steps into minimum wage fight – an article by Amanda Verrette, Legislative Gazette, April 30, 2012.
  • New York State Minimum Wage Must Be Raised to $8.50 – an op ed by Lou Gordon, Director, Business and Labor Coalition of New York (BALCONY), Saugerties Post-Star, April 19, 2012.

Also see editorials from the New York Times (May 1) and the Albany Times Union (April 25).