Ann Markusen, Jennifer Ebert, Martina Cameron, Project on Regional and Industrial Economics, The Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, Feb. 2004

Over the past three decades, the real value of the minimum wage for Minnesotans earning has fallen precipitously, from $8.27 to $5.15. For many workers with families to support, their earnings at minimum wage now leave them below the poverty line, even when working full-time. The decline has left single individuals as well as families with children far below the “basic needs” budget that Growth & Justice has chosen as its target for standards of living. It discourages people, especially if they face work-related costs like child care, from working.

The easiest, fairest, most dignified and cost-effective way to address the gap is to increase the minimum wage. Minnesota’s minimum wage remains at $5.15 an hour, the national minimum wage floor, despite the fact that many other states with prosperous economies have raised theirs as high as $7.00 and beyond. A minimum wage hike could be accomplished by a simple vote of the legislature, would cost the state nothing while increasing tax revenues and would require negligible administrative costs to deliver, because it would apply universally without eligibility screening.

Download The Case for a Substantial Minimum Wage Hike for Minnesota