Donald M. Payne: “as a strong supporter of the proposal put forth by President Clinton to increase the minimum wage, I would like to share…”

“as a strong supporter of the proposal put forth by President Clinton to increase the minimum wage, I would like to share with my colleagues the findings of a survey in my home State of New Jersey. Despite dire predictions by some of gloom and doom, our New Jersey businesses report that they actually added jobs to their payrolls after the minimum wage was raised in our State. As Governor Christine Todd Whitman acknowledged in an interview following President Clinton's State of the union Address, New Jersey workers could not make ends meet on the national minimum wage of $4.25. Our State of New Jersey has a $5.05 minimum wage. Mr. Speaker, I am proud of the fact that our State has led the Nation in providing workers with the decent living wage they deserve. I support extending the increase in the minimum wage to every worker in our Nation. Let me point out that the value of the current Federal minimum wage, adjusted for inflation, has fallen by about 50 cents an hour since 1991. It is about 27 percent lower than it was in 1979. Let us make sure that the economic recovery reaches all Americans, and let us support President Clinton's minimum wage increase.”