Most Americans believe a job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you in it. "Raise The Floor," shows us how we can translate that belief into reality. An annual minimum wage income of $10,712 a year just doesn't add up. The book presents national minimum needs budgets for individuals and families to meet basic needs such as food, housing and health care. "Raise The Floor" shows minimum wage critics are wrong, demonstrates how good wages are good business, and recommends raising the minimum wage to $8. That's what a single worker needs to meet their minimum needs working full time. That's what it takes just to match the minimum wage of 1968, adjusting for inflation. To assure that all working families can meet basic needs, the book explains how we can supplement a higher minimum wage with improved child care, health care, housing and Earned Income Tax Credit policies, and other practical solutions.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
This book does it all, with passion and precision. It's a tremendously valuable resource. -- Jared Bernstein, Economic Policy Institute, August 24, 2001
This book sends a message to America that the minimum wage should lift people out of poverty, not perpetuate it. -- U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro, August 24, 2001
This is a commanding work and powerful tool for the living wage movement that is gaining ground everywhere. -- Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, August 24, 2001
This book sends a message to America that the minimum wage should lift people out of poverty, not perpetuate it. -- U.S. Representative Rosa DeLauro, August 24, 2001
This is a commanding work and powerful tool for the living wage movement that is gaining ground everywhere. -- Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, August 24, 2001
About the Author
Holly Sklar's standout commentaries on economic and political affairs have appeared in hundreds of newspapers nationwide. She is the coauthor of Shifting Fortunes: The Perils of the Growing American Wealth Gap and author of Chaos or Community? Seeking Solutions, Not Scapegoats for Bad Economics. Sklar's other books include Streets of Hope: The Fall and Rise of an Urban Neighborhood (coauthored), the remarkable story of how the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative is rebuilding a long impoverished Boston community as a dynamic urban village. Sklar is the director of MediaVision, a strategic research, analysis and communications firm based in Boston.
Laryssa Mykyta is a senior policy analyst at Solutions for Progress. While her primary interest lies in labor market policy and effective anti-poverty policy, she has also applied her research and database management skills to projects on health care and education policy. Mykyta's past research addressed the effects of inequality on labor market outcomes for female and minority workers and examined the impact of racial divisions on society. Mykyta also teaches at Temple University where her courses include “Women and the Economy.”
Susan Wefald is director of institutional planning at the Ms. Foundation for Women and coordinator of the Raise the Floor campaign. Wefald previously ran a community development consulting business, where she conducted training in the U.S. and Russia. As former staff director of the Naugatuck Valley Project, Wefald coordinated the organizing and economic development work of a coalition of unions, churches and community organizations in Western Connecticut. She is the former assistant director of the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board and taught “Community Organizing and Community Economic Development” at New Hampshire College.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Every member of Congress should read this book!,
By Jim Stark (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Raise The Floor: Wages and Policies That Work for All of Us (Paperback)
As Congress prepares to debate the national minimum wage this Fall, there couldn't be a more timely or compelling book. At first I was a bit surprised to see this coming from the Ms. Foundation for Women, and while it may be an expansion of their advocacy work, they seem to have assembled an experienced, knowledgable group of researchers and writers to put this study together. It is clear, readable, convincing. Even the manner in which tables and data are presented is easy on the eye (and the head). But as I was drawn into the book, I began to see that looking at an issue like the minimum wage, one needs to do so understanding its history (and the authors do this compactly but thoroughly) and its relevance today (and the tie-in to the Living Wage movement is vivid and convincing). This is a book not only about female or male workers, but families, and beyond that, to the values this nation is supposed to stand for...and it made me so fired up that this country still keeps hard working people poor that I wrote both my senators about it. I hope they read it, and I hope you do too...
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everyone, rich or poor should read this book,
By Dennis Duncan (Rankin, Mississippi) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Raise The Floor: Wages and Policies That Work for All of Us (Paperback)
For the past 5 years, even with all the corporate scandals and a worse than Vietnam war killing America, never before in U.S. history has our government recklessly hit the gas pedal on giving more "tax cut" handouts for the wealthy elite and big business scoundrels. I'd rather socialize wealth than socialize poverty and terrorism any day. Anyone who thinks otherwise is only looking forward to turning America into a business concentration camp.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Critical Problem That Still Calls for Reform,
By Rob Johnston (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies That Work For All Of Us (Paperback)
Though published in 2001, Raise the Floor addresses an issue that still affects millions of Americans. And it makes the case for anyone who believes that the government should play a role in reducing poverty. The authors show the need for new policies, and they outline the required steps. They show how good wages are good business, and in spite of fear mongering, that states that are good for small business also offer better wages.
If you believe that work should help raise people from poverty, not keep them in it, this book will inform, anger, and inspire you.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
They work five days a week, often more. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Los Angeles, Social Security, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau, New York City, Business Week, Department of Labor, Economic Policy Institute, Federal Reserve, Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group, Personal Household, Care Transportation, Low-Cost Food Plan, Expenses Telephone, Consumer Expenditure Survey, Fair Market Rents, Head Start, Private Households, Children's Defense Fund, Fair Labor Standards Act, President Bush, Eric Schlosser, New Deal, Self-Sufficiency Standard New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
They work five days a week, often more. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, Los Angeles, Social Security, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census Bureau, New York City, Business Week, Department of Labor, Economic Policy Institute, Federal Reserve, Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group, Personal Household, Care Transportation, Low-Cost Food Plan, Expenses Telephone, Consumer Expenditure Survey, Fair Market Rents, Head Start, Private Households, Children's Defense Fund, Fair Labor Standards Act, President Bush, Eric Schlosser, New Deal, Self-Sufficiency Standard New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 23
books:
See all 23 books this book cites
3
books
cite this book:
- Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser on 7 pages
- Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich on page 7, page 100, and page 147
- Standard Occupational Classificatio (v. 1) by Office for National on page 93, and Back Matter
- The Living Wage: Building a Fair Economy by Robert Pollin in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Equal Opportunity by Ellen Frankel Paul on page 22, and page 171
See all 23 books this book cites
- The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead by David Callahan in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Lost Ground: Welfare Reform, Poverty, and Beyond by Randy Albelda in Back Matter
- Everything You Know Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies by Russ Kick in Back Matter
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