Democratic leaders said Friday’s job numbers are healthy enough to justify a raise in the federal minimum wage, and they said salary increases have lagged behind the growth most companies have seen in recent years.
The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in November, unchanged from the previous month, but that average weekly earnings declined by 67 cents from the previous month.
“Today’s jobs report reveals the economic state of workers and middle-class families remains fragile despite a prolonged period of low unemployment. Wages have remained largely stagnant — particularly for low-wage earners,” said Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., who is inline to be chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee. “Next year, this Committee will work to build an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few. This means raising the federal minimum wage.”
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who will likely return as House speaker in the upcoming Congress, said the report “shows an economy straining beneath the weight of a callous GOP special interest agenda” and that next year the party would “raise wages.”
[Related: Sanders to introduce bill to force Walmart to pay $15 minimum wage]
The federal minimum rate is $7.25 an hour, a level it has been at for nearly a decade. Democrats have pushed for a $15 rate to match the rates adopted by states such as California and New York.
While legislation that could raise the federal rate to that level could easily pass the House, it will face a wall in the Senate where the GOP will retain a 53-47 majority in the next Congress. However, there may be a majority for a less-steep increase.
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; John Boozman, R-Ark.; Cory Gardner, R-Colo.; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., all hail from states that either have raised or are set to in the next few years raise the minimum in their state to at least $11 an hour, as does senator-elect Republican Josh Hawley of Missouri.
President Trump indicated during the 2016 election that he would be open to a modest increase, but White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow has more recently said that any increase would be a bad idea.
