Washington, D.C. — Today, the Center for American Progress released two columns looking at how increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour would benefit women and breadwinning mothers. The new analysis come as Congress works to advance President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, which would provide critical COVID-19 relief and stimulus—including by increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour and eliminating the subminimum wage—to help the United States control the pandemic and recover from the recession.
The columns find that:
- Increasing the minimum wage would have a multigenerational positive impact. Roughly 65 percent of mothers who would benefit from increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour are primary breadwinners—a far greater share than the 41.2 percent of mothers across the country as a whole who are their family’s primary breadwinner.
- About 19 million, or 59 percent, of the 32 million workers who would benefit from increasing the minimum wage are women. The boost would be particularly beneficial for working women of color, as nearly a quarter, or 23 percent, of all workers who would see a raise are Black women or Latinas.
- Fifty-eight percent of all essential workers making less than $15 an hour are women. Seven million women essential workers, half of whom are women of color, would experience a raise if the minimum wage were increased to $15 an hour—accounting for nearly one-quarter of all beneficiaries.
- Eliminating the tipped minimum wage would disproportionately benefit women, who represent more than 2 in 3 tipped workers in America, substantially reducing the gender wage gap and increasing the wages of Black working women and Latinas in particular.
Please click here to read “Raising the Minimum Wage Would Be Transformative for Women” by Diana Boesch, Robin Bleiweis, and Areeba Haider
Please click here to read “Raising the Minimum Wage Is Key To Supporting the Breadwinning Mothers Who Drive the Economy” by Sarah Jane Glynn
For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Colin Seeberger at [email protected] or 202-741-6292.