Norcross Reacts to News of Minimum Wage Increases

Target Raises Minimum Wage to $11, Pledges $15 by 2020

DOL Announces Increase to $10.35 for Government Contractors

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01) – a member of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, an electrician by trade and original co-sponsor of the Raise the Wage Act of 2017 – reacted to the announcement that Target will raise minimum wage by a dollar an hour, to $11, in October 2017 and vowed to raise it to $15 an hour by 2020. Target Corp employs more than 323,000 people.

“Today Target took a step in the right direction – a step that Congress should follow. A hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay, it’s that simple. Working families know that wages haven’t kept up with the work they put in or the bills they pay out. Americans are ready – and waiting – for Congress to act to raise the wage.”

Additionally, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) today announced that the minimum wage for federal contractors will increase to $10.35 an hour on January 1, 2018.

The Raise the Wage Act

Norcross is an original sponsor of the Raise the Wage Act of 2017, which would incrementally raise the wage to $15 an hour by 2024. In addition to raising the wage, the Act will also gradually eliminate loopholes that allow millions of workers to be paid substantially less than the federal minimum wage.

Related Content

• Norcross published an op-ed in The Record titled “When they go low, we go higher wages” on September 9, 2017.
• Norcross hosted colleagues in South Jersey for a day-long forum on ‘The Future of Work, Wages and Labor’ on August 4, 2017.
• Norcross expressed strong support for the new Democratic agenda ‘A Better Deal: Better Jobs, Better Wages, Better Future’ on July 24, 2017.
• Norcross and all of House Education and the Workforce Committee Democrats urge Chairwoman Virginia Foxx to hold a full Committee hearing on the Raise the Wage Act in a letter on July 24, 2017.
• Norcross writes “first and foremost for me is raising wages” in an op-ed Sunday, July 23, 2017.
• Norcross and colleagues introduce the Raise the Wage Act on May 25, 2017.
• Norcross was appointed to serve on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and he vowed to represent New Jersey labor and working families on January 5, 2017.

Representing the American Worker

An International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) member and electrician by trade, Norcross has a long history of fighting for workers. He fought day in and day out to ensure South Jersey workers had good-paying jobs as a business agent for IBEW Local 351 and as president of the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO. In the New Jersey state legislature, he was part of the successful fight to raise the minimum wage in New Jersey.

By the Numbers

A person working full time at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour earns $15,080 in a year, which is well below the federal poverty level (for almost all households). A federal minimum wage increase to $15 in 2024 would raise wages for the parents of 19 million children across the United States (which equates to 24% of American children). In total, raising the minimum to $15 in 2024 would directly or indirectly lift wages for 41.5 million workers (which equates to 29% percent of the wage-earning workforce).

Net productivity rose over 73% in the past 42 years, while the hourly pay of typical workers increased only 11%. Hard-working Americans are more productive, but they are not the ones benefitting from the fruits of their labors. The people benefiting, especially in recent years, are those at the top of the food chain. CEOs of large corporations were paid 30 times more than the average worker 30 years ago and they are now making nearly 350 times more than the average American worker.