newjerseynewsroom.com

BY TOM HESTER SR.

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Legislation to increase the minimum wage in New Jersey by $1.25 to $8.50 per hour, and index it to the Consumer Price Index to ensure annual adjustments that are in line with increases in the cost of living was approved Thursday by the Senate Labor Committee.

The proposed increase would impact the roughly 40,000 New Jerseyans who earn the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

The bill’s sponsors, Sen. Richard J. Codey (D-Essex), Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) and Sen. Joe Vitale (D-Middlesex) maintain that at the current minimum wage, a single parent working a minimum wage job to take care of his or her family earns $15,080 annually – a figure that is below the federal poverty line.

New Jersey’s minimum wage last increased in 2009, when the federal minimum wage was increased to $7.25 per hour. Prior to that, state law enacted in 2005 shepherded in a three-year period of growth that saw the rate increase from $5.15 per hour to $7.15 per hour. That bill was signed by then-Gov. Codey, and was sponsored by Sweeney.

Since that increase, the Minimum Wage Advisory Commission – created by the law to track the minimum wage’s effectiveness – has recommended three times that the wage be increased to $8.50 and indexing the rate to the rate of inflation.

If enacted, the $8.50 minimum wage would be the third-highest in the country, trailing only the states of Washington and Oregon.

There are two sidelights to the proposal.

If Republican Gov. Chris Christie vetoes the increase that the Democratic-controlled Legislature is preparing to send him, Democrats could use it against him should he seek re-election next year.

Secondly, Codey, who is seen as a potentially strong Democratic candidate for governor, appears to be reemerging as a figure in the Senate after he was bumped from upper house presidency in 2010 when the force of South Jersey Democratic boss George Norcross and Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo gained solid control of the state Democratic Party and installed Sweeney as head of the upper house. Joining Sweeney on a major Democratic bill is an interesting pairing and sponsoring a minimum wage increase would look good on Codey’s gubernatorial resume.

“An honest day’s work must be rewarded with an honest day’s pay, at a wage that is just not a token, but livable wage,” Codey said. “Our current minimum wage is not a livable wage, and anyone who would tell you otherwise has never tried to live at it. We must take this step to not only help the families who most need it, but to ensure that they don’t again fall backwards.”

“Those working on the bottom rung of the economic ladder desperately need a minimum wage that doesn’t condemn them to a minimum standard of living,” Sweeney added. “While the cost of living has continually risen, workers earning the minimum wage have seen their incomes stagnate, keeping them farther and farther below even the poverty line. This is long overdue for those who most need it, and whose earnings will go directly back into the economy, spurring further economic growth.”

“The minimum wage should be a way for someone to work their way out of poverty, not to spend 40 hours each week at a job just to stay in poverty,” Vitale said. “It’s shameful that one of the wealthiest states in the nation still relegates a portion of its workforce to below the poverty line. Our residents deserve better than minimum – they deserve a wage that can help them support their families.”

The bill was approved by a vote of 3-1, and now moves to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee for consideration.