Georgia election result brings federal minimum wage closer to $ 15

A federal minimum wage of $ 15 moved slightly closer after the runoff in Georgia, which looks likely to overthrow Senate control and unify the government under the Democratic Party.

Such a wage increase would more than double the current federal minimum wage, $ 7.25 an hour, but would likely meet resistance from some Republicans and business groups.

Reverend Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, won the second round of the U.S. Senate in Georgia on Tuesday, beating outgoing Republican President Senator Kelly Loeffler, according to projections by NBC News.

Democrat Jon Ossoff led Republican David Perdue, whose Senate seat expired Sunday, in the other race in Georgia, which was too close to be called Wednesday at noon, according to NBC News.

Democratic victories in these contests would give Democrats control of the Senate, House and Presidency. Congress is expected to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump on Wednesday.

“It’s absolutely a priority,” said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, of Democrats passing legislation to set a higher wage floor.

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Democrats, especially those in the liberal wing of the party, have long pushed to raise the national minimum wage. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who generally votes with Democrats, said in a tweet Tuesday that a minimum wage of $ 15 was at stake in the second round of elections in Georgia.

Proponents of raising the wage floor argue that the current standard does not provide a living wage for Americans.

The federal minimum wage, currently $ 7.25 an hour, has not been increased since 2009. That salary translates to $ 15,080 for a full-time, full-year worker, according to the National Employment Law Project.

Its value has eroded over time, since the salary does not increase with the cost of living.

Warnock and Ossoff are supporters of a minimum wage of $ 15, a point they have emphasized repeatedly in recent months. Biden has pledged to raise the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour. The House voted to do so in 2019.

Several states, cities and counties have recently increased their minimum wages, many to $ 15 or more. Forty cities and counties will have reached or exceeded a minimum wage of $ 15 by the end of 2021, according to the National Employment Law Project.

“Over the past 40 years, what we’ve seen in America is that workers’ wages have been crushed while shareholder returns have exploded,” Ossoff said on the country trail.

A higher salary would disproportionately help black and Hispanic workers compared to other groups such as whites and Asians, research shows. In December, Warnock called the increase in the minimum wage a “problem of racial justice.”

The wage increase would come at a time when low wages and racial minorities have been disproportionately affected by job loss and poverty during the Covid pandemic.

However, the adoption of such legislation is not a given. If both Democrats win in Georgia, the Senate will be split 50 to 50 between Democrats and Republicans, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris able to deliver a decisive vote in favor of the Democrats. This majority would not meet the threshold to prevent systematic obstruction.

The Republican-controlled Senate did not pass the wage increase law after the bill passed the House in 2019.

Some business groups, such as the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business, have voiced opposition, saying a national minimum wage of $ 15 will increase labor costs and push employers to lay off workers.

Small businesses, which are less likely to have cash reserves or profit margins to absorb higher labor costs, would bear the brunt of these negative effects, the NFIB said earlier this year.

Gradually increasing the salary to $ 15 by 2025 would increase the salaries of 17 million Americans, according to estimates released by the Congressional Budget Office. About 10 million more people earning just over $ 15 an hour could also benefit from a pay rise. But 1.3 million more workers would lose their jobs, according to the estimate.

The momentum appears to be with Democrats on this issue due to overwhelming public support, Hamrick said.

“The economy was able to support most of this increase [in 2009]”Said Hamrick.” Obviously this year has been difficult for other reasons [due to the Great Recession], but no one looks back to 2009 and says, “It was a big political mistake.” “