Mo' Money!

We remember our first job, working at a suburban Houston mall. We proudly negotiated the hourly rate up to $5.00 an hour, contingent on us doing a good job for the first month, during which we would make a whopping $4.75 and hour. Soon after, in 1997, the federal minimum wage was raised to $5.15. Apparently that’s a number the federal government has felt good about, because the minimum wage hasn’t been raised since. (If you’re too lazy to do the math, someone working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year would make an annual salary of $10,712. Before taxes.)

But finally, there is some hope that the 9 year stretch could be over. A U.S. House of Representatives panel voted Tuesday to raise the minimum wage to $7.25. It would happen in increments, with the final wage in place by January 2009. That is, if it makes it through the entire chain of approval. Some Republican leaders are trying to have the proposal stricken from the legislation. If the raise is approved, Texas is will be the state most affected, with 10% the workforce feeling the financial increase.

Us commoners won’t be the only ones potentially getting a pay raise. The House went ahead and decided that they, too, deserve more money. So, they voted to give themselves a raise of $3,300, bringing their annual salaries to $168,500. It’s the seventh straight raise for members of the House and Senate. The vice-president, congressional leaders and Supreme Court justices get the raise, too. The only one getting the salary increase shaft is President Bush. His $400,000 annual salary is unaffected by the legislation.

Photo courtesy of flickr user Compassionate