THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release March 8, 2000



RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE:
AN OVERDUE PAY RAISE FOR AMERICA'S WORKING FAMILIES

Today, President Clinton will call on Congress to pass clean, straightforward legislation to raise the minimum wage by $1 -- from $5.15 to $6.15 -- in two equal steps. The President will say that working families deserve a raise which would restore the value of the minimum wage to its level in 1982. He will also reiterate his opposition to legislation that holds this increase hostage to provisions that delay this overdue pay raise -- costing a full-time minimum wage worker more than $900 over two years -- and jeopardize our ability to strengthen Social Security and Medicare and pay down the debt by 2013 for future generations. The President will also release a report by the National Economic Council which shows that raising the minimum wage is good for American workers and good for the American economy. Some highlights from the report are:

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