Cass Ballenger: “now the President wants to ``make work pay'' by raising the minimum…”

On the recordMay 14, 1996

now the President wants to ``make work pay'' by raising the minimum wage. Yet just 2 years ago he said that raising the minimum wage is ``the wrong way to raise the income of low-wage earners.'' President Clinton knows that upgrading worker skills results in an increase in wages. He has said that ``what you earn depends on what you learn; the most effective way to help is to make workers more productive because wages reflect the value of what people produce.'' ``After all, most minimum wage workers are not poor.'' That is Secretary Reich to President Clinton. ``An increased minimum wage often takes from the poor to help the middle class.'' That is economist Robert Shapiro, friend of Bill Clinton's.

Said by

Cass Ballenger

North Carolina

Source

govinfo.gov

Editor's note · Context

Discussing the implications of raising the minimum wage during a debate on economic policy.

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Cass Ballenger: “now the President wants to ``make work pay'' by raising the minimum wage. Yet just 2 years ago he said that raising the…”

Editor's note · Context