People, especially the working force are looking for those cities that offer big minimum wage for employees seeking for green pasture. Baltimore is a big city and can cater to thousands of migrant employees due to its large area and emerging business and economy. Because of these awesome opportunities, lawmakers in Baltimore has decided to work on increasing the city’s minimum wage.
Mark Reutter wrote an article in The Baltimore Brew the exciting news on raising the living wage in Baltimore, as well as other key cities in Maryland. Read the article below to find out more.
Baltimore To Raise “Living Wage” on Some City Contracts To $12.06 an Hour
For most low-skill jobs, Maryland’s minimum wage rate of $10.10 an hour will remain the same next year
Effective July 1, 2019, Baltimore will increase the “living wage” paid on some city contracts from $11.81 to $12.06 per hour, or 25 cents.
The new wage covers only “service contracts” designated by the Board of Estimates.
Otherwise, the minimum wage in the city will remain at the state level of $10.10 an hour, including for municipal employees who are paid the minimum wage.
Vetoed Bill
Last year, the City Council passed a bill that would have raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.
After promising to support the measure while running for mayor, Catherine Pugh vetoed it, saying it would drive away private employers, impact negatively on the municipal budget (by raising the pay of several hundred minimum-wage city jobs), and potentially push residential water rates up even higher.
Montgomery County is now the only jurisdiction in Maryland with its own minimum wage, set at $12.00 and $12.25 an hour depending on the size of the employer.
Poverty Threshold
Image Source: The Baltimore Sun
Baltimore’s Living Wage Law, which covers service contracts recommended by the city purchasing agent and designated by the Board of Estimates, is based on the “poverty threshold” defined by the U.S. Census Bureau.
That threshold currently is $24,563 a year for a family of four. Based on inflation and other factors, the city’s Civil Rights and Wage Enforcement Office has recommended a 2.16% increase in the poverty threshold.
That makes for a $12.06 an hour rate based on 2,080 hours (a 40-hour week x 52 weeks).
The Board of Estimates is set to approve the new rate tomorrow. See full post here…
City officials in Baltimore are serious in increasing the current minimum wage per house in the city. While this only covers “service contracts”, it is certainly good news. In addition, the original proposal was $12.5, but there was even a much higher proposal of $15, and the good news is that it was even passed by the city council. Check out the article written by Luke Broadwater in Baltimore Sun and learn more about this news.
Baltimore City Council Passes $15 Minimum Wage Bill
Image Source: BizJournals
Baltimore’s City Council voted overwhelmingly Monday to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022.
With the 11-3 vote, council members brushed aside the fiscal warnings by Mayor Catherine Pugh’s finance department and joined more affluent cities such as Seattle, San Francisco and Washington, which have passed similar measures.
“I understand how people have objections,” said City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, the bill’s lead sponsor. “This is not easy. Many people have to sacrifice here for this.”
But Clarke said the legislation was a first step toward “correcting decades of injustice” for Baltimore’s lowest-wage workers. “People are working one job, two jobs, three jobs and still often are not able to make ends meet for their families,” she said.
The council’s vote sends the matter to Pugh, who has yet to say whether she will sign or veto the bill. Twelve votes would be needed to override a mayoral veto. Councilman Brandon Scott, a supporter of the $15-an-hour legislation, was on an overseas trip.
Pugh’s spokesman, Anthony McCarthy, said Monday she would make a decision “within the next few days.”
He called Pugh “one of the strongest voices for working families,” but said she needs to balance her desire to raise wages with the financial implications of doing so.
“Mayor Pugh will make her decision based on what she believes is in the best interests of Baltimore residents, not what is the most popular decision or most expedient,” McCarthy said.
He noted that the city’s budget is already stretched due in part to high police overtime costs, a Department of Justice consent decree for police reform and the needs of the city’s public school system, which faces a $130 million deficit.
Baltimore finance officials have warned that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would cost taxpayers $115 million over four years because some city workers’ wages would increase. They also warned it could cost the city hundreds of jobs because businesses would move or close.
The influential pro-business Greater Baltimore Committee immediately urged Pugh to veto the bill.
Donald C. Fry, the group’s president, said he was “very disappointed in the City Council’s decision to increase the minimum wage despite the concerns expressed by the business community, cultural institutions, nonprofit organizations, and city government agencies.”
Fry noted a $15 hourly minimum wage would be nearly $5 an hour higher than in surrounding counties.
“This legislation will place Baltimore at a serious competitive disadvantage, resulting in lost jobs, additional costs to city businesses, and employers leaving the city,” he said.
Some business leaders had a starkly different view.
Andrew Buerger, co-founder of B’More Organic, cheered the decision and said it’s “only fair” that business owners pay their employees wages that allow them to escape poverty.
“It’s incumbent on the business owners to pay somebody a living wage,” he said. “We’re not afraid to do that. We don’t think it hurts our business.” Learn more here…
$15 is a really good number for minimum wage. For the ones who proposed the increase, this is the first step towards correcting decades of injustice for Baltimore’s lowest-wage workers. While there are those who disagreed, the voice of the majority still won, and there is a major reason for that.
In an article written by Will Kimball in Economic Policy Institute, raising the city’s minimum wage to $15 would lift wages for an overwhelming 98,000 working people. Read the article below to learn more.
Raising Baltimore’s Minimum Wage to $15 by July 2020 Would Lift Wages for 98,000 Working People
Image Source: The Baltimore Sun
Summary: A bill before the Baltimore City Council would gradually raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 by mid-2020. It would also ensure tipped workers, such as waiters and bartenders, are eventually paid the full minimum wage, instead of the $3.63 subminimum wage. This proposal would raise wages for 98,000 working people—about 27 percent of all Baltimore workers. Once the minimum wage reaches $15, the average affected worker would earn roughly $4,400 more each year than she does today. Far from the stereotype of low-wage workers being teenagers working to earn spending money, those who would benefit are overwhelmingly adult workers, most of whom come from families of modest means, and many of whom are supporting families of their own.
Introduction and key findings
Over the last four decades, typical Americans’ pay has stagnated—even though American workers are more productive and the economy has expanded. While low- and middle-income Americans are treading water, an enormous and rising share of income growth goes to corporate profits and the top 1 percent.
The reason America’s prosperity in recent decades hasn’t benefited the vast majority is because those with the most wealth and power have enacted policies that exacerbate inequality. We can counter these efforts with policies—such as raising the minimum wage—that help ensure America’s prosperity is broadly shared.
The minimum wage is intended to ensure that work provides the means to a decent standard of living. For decades following the enactment of the federal minimum wage in 1938, Congress regularly raised the minimum wage to account for increasing costs of living. The minimum wage hit its peak value in 1968, when it equaled $9.54 in 2015 dollars.1 Since then, the real (inflation-adjusted) value of the minimum wage has declined, as increases have been too infrequent and too modest to keep up with rising prices. As a result, today any parent working full time who earns the federal minimum wage ($7.25) is paid too little to escape poverty.
In lieu of federal action on the minimum wage, many states and localities have elevated their own minimum wages above the federal minimum. Some of these measures have also raised the subminimum wage paid to tipped workers (such as waiters and bartenders), which at the federal level has remained at $2.13 since 1991.
On April 18, Baltimore City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke introduced legislation that would establish a Baltimore city minimum wage of $10 per hour in 2017, which would gradually increase to $15 by mid-2020. The Baltimore bill would also gradually close the gap between the regular minimum wage and the subminimum wage paid to workers who regularly receive tips (also known as the tipped minimum wage). This Baltimore bill comes at a time when surrounding areas have already taken action to raise their minimum wages: Two Maryland counties, Montgomery County and Prince George’s County, have already increased their minimum wages, while Washington, D.C. (where the minimum wage is already $10.50), is also considering its own $15 minimum-wage bill. See full post here…
Increasing the minimum wage an hour will surely benefit a lot of workers in Baltimore, especially those who are low-income earners. However, there are also those who might sacrifice, but the bigger picture states that the entire city, its people and economy will benefit a lot.
This increase will encourage people to move to Baltimore and start a life in the city. With this, people will be needed spaces to live. If you want to seize this opportunity and wanting to sell your house, Dependable Homebuyers can help you sell your house fast. Visit us on https://www.dependablehomebuyers.com/maryland/baltimore/ and get started.
Dependable Homebuyers
1402 Belt St, Baltimore, MD 21230
(443) 266-6247
