Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Wage hike would improve life for many in LV

Barbara Carr, mother of three teenage girls, works as a cashier in a gift shop for $4.50 an hour.

Carr is among many Las Vegans whose quality of life would improve if Congress passes an increase in the federal minimum wage, which, since 1991, has been $4.25 an hour, or less than $9,000 a year for a full-time worker.

Democrats have proposed an increase of 90 cents an hour over two years, while some Republicans, fearing that their party's opposition to a wage hike will hurt their re-election chances, broke ranks and are asking for a $1-an-hour increase.

As recently as last week, House Republicans blocked a move by Democrats to boost the wage to $5.15 an hour.

The minimum wage issue has stirred debate over whether an increase would cost jobs. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, the likely GOP presidential nominee, has joined other Republicans in warning that a wage hike will force thousands out of work.

Mothers like Carr are more concerned about making ends meet.

"I'd rather see an increase in the minimum wage," Carr, 42, said. "A dollar an hour means $8 a day. That means I can get a few more things at the grocery store."

Carr and her youngest daughters are staying at the Shade Tree Shelter for homeless women and children while she can save enough for an apartment. Toward that end, Carr shops at grocery stores that offer the most inexpensive prices. She also clips coupons and searches for sales.

Donna, another woman at the shelter, supports four sons, ranging from 11 to 18 years old, by working as a $5.50-per-hour clerk in a convenience store.

She also favors an increase in the minimum wage.

"We need money each week," said Donna, 35, who asked that her last name not be used. "You live every day."

These women are among a group that conservative lawmakers say comprise a minuscule segment of the work force: heads of families surviving on income at or near the minimum wage.

"There's a lot more of us out there than some people would think," Donna said.

"It's true," Carr said. "I know a lot of people with kids who are making the minimum."

Many of these low-income workers are women, said Tina Schafer, an advocate for working women.

The Bureau of Labor indicates that 60 million women 16 years old and older were in the civilian labor pool in 1994, and that women are projected to make up 48 percent of the work force in the year 2005.

Nearly three out of four divorced women work, and those who work more than one job do so to meet regular household expenses.

Schafer said many of these workers earn wages at or near the minimum.

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