Press Release:
The State of Working Minnesota 2004
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EMBARGOED UNTIL 12:01 a.m., Sept. 5, 2004
Contact: Kris Jacobs, Director, JOBS NOW Coalition
651-290-0240 (office)
651 336-5205 (cell)
kjacobs@jobsnowcoalition.org
Nan Madden, Director, Minnesota Budget Project
612-539-8742 (pager)
651-642-1904 x230 (office)
nan@mncn.org
St.
Paul—Labor market conditions like slow
wage growth will have a sobering effect on Labor Day celebrations this year,
according to a new report called “The State of Working Minnesota 2004.” The
first in a series of information briefs by the JOBS NOW Coalition and the
Minnesota Budget Project reveals that nearly three years since the recession ended, wage trends in Minnesota remain disappointing.
“As
workers and their families set out to celebrate this Labor Day, many have yet
to experience an improvement in their standard of living, despite reports of
positive economic trends,” said Nan Madden, director of the Minnesota Budget
Project, an initiative of the
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.
Besides comparing
the wage trends of this decade to the wage trends of the previous two decades,
the report examines some of the causes of the current stagnation in wages for Minnesota’s workers.
“In the current recovery, 85% of corporate income growth has gone
to corporate profits, while only 15% has gone to workers. This distribution is
exactly opposite what we’ve seen in the past,” said Kris Jacobs, director of
JOBS NOW, a St. Paul worker advocacy group.
The brief notes that another important factor contributing to poor
wage growth is the decline in the real value of the minimum wage.
The high point in the purchasing power of the minimum wage was
1968 when it was $1.60. The minimum wage would be $8.46 per hour if it had
kept pace with inflation, rather than the $5.15 it is today. Approximately
450,000 workers in Minnesota earn less than the inflation-adjusted minimum wage
of $8.46 an hour.
There is strong support among
Minnesotans for raising the minimum wage. According to a poll done by the
Minnesota Center for Survey Research, 81% of Minnesotans believe the current
minimum wage of $5.15 per hour is too low.
Minnesota continues to be the hardest working state in the
country, ranking at the top of most measures of workforce quality. The report
concludes: “Minnesota’s economic advantage is the quality of the workforce.
Our economic development policies must build on that quality and not undermine
workers’ economic security. The most direct way is to maintain and promote
high standards for job quality.”
September 5, 2004
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