Wage

They're at it again, trying to bump up the minimum wage in Maryland from $7.25 to $10 per hour in 2013 ("Raising the standard," editorial, Jan. 21). Happily, even some of the Democrats recognize that if we want to create jobs then we shouldn't go around making it more expensive to employ people. I give Sen. Thomas Middleton (Democrat of Charles County) credit for pointing out that, "We're trying to create jobs. We're trying to hold on to what we've got. I think raising the minimum wage goes against that.

They're facing high unemployment, depressed wages and loads of debt — and they're only in their 20s. Welcome to life after college. Though the labor market is recovering slowly, graduates this spring have only slightly better chances of landing jobs than grads did in the depths of the recession, experts say. Over the last year, unemployment has averaged 9.4 percent for college graduates under age 25. Meanwhile, researchers at the Washington-based Economic...

In his column "Risk to city outweighs benefits of living wage" (July 25) Jay Hancock perpetuates the myth that wage rates are the dominant factor influencing decisions of where large business will locate within the greater Baltimore regional marketplace. As a general rule, nothing could be further from the truth. In making location decisions, transportation access and the availability of a skilled workforce are very important to the success of a manufacturing concern; transportation and proximity to customers to a warehousing operation; and the existence of underserved demand and public access are crucial to retail sales outlets.

A new report being released today calls on the Baltimore region to rethink economic development, pointing to a worrying trend: a mounting share of low-wage jobs shutting more and more residents out of the middle class. The number of jobs in largely low-paying industries such as retail and food service grew more than 60 percent in the region between 1980 and 2007, while jobs increased 36 percent in middle-wage fields and just under 10 percent in high-wage fields, according to the Brookings Institution study.

Is it any mystery why Maryland and Baltimore in particular, are considered anti-business? The "living wage" bill proposed by City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke will certainly result in the closing of one retailer on Pratt Street downtown and possibly threatens the existence of current and proposed Walmart stores, meaning the considerable loss of jobs ("'Major retailers' would pay city's 'living wage' under bill," May 4). How can politicians be so arrogant as to decide that they can tell an employer how much they have to pay employees?

Recently, Dan Rodricks took on the Republicans in Congress who want to pay down the federal budget deficit by raising taxes on the middle class and the poor ("Tax the poor, protect the rich," Aug. 21). Never mind that these segments of the population already barely have enough for necessities, much less the wherewithal to pay taxes that should be borne by those who have the most: wealthy individuals and corporations. Yet the wealthy are considered more moral, somehow better people than the rest of us, and thus deserving of windfall profits and legal loopholes that allow them to pay little or nothing in taxes.

I have great respect for Jay Hancock and in the words of an old country western song was almost persuaded by his reasoning on why a living wage hourly salary for 3,000 Baltimoreans laboring at big box retailers is counterproductive to the local economy ("Risk to city outweighs benefits of living wage," July 25). Just when I'd reached the same conclusion I noted in the same business section that the heirs of George Steinbrenner are exempt from estate tax of over $500 million due to the happenstance that the Boss expired in 2010, having survived several of the managers he consigned to unemployment, such as Billy Martin and Bob Lemon.

Major retailers in Baltimore would be forced to pay employees the city's designated 'living wage' -- currently slightly more than $10 per hour -- under a measure introduced by Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke at Monday's council meeting. Retailers that are part of a chain that grosses more than $10 million annually would be required to pay employees the living wage rate under Clarke's proposal. "This would apply to the businesses that can afford to do this, not the mom-and-pop stores on the corner," Clarke said.

A new federal rule that would require crab-processing plants on the Eastern Shore and elsewhere to pay a higher wage to temporary foreign workers would be delayed for a year under legislation approved Wednesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee. Advanced by Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, the measure was attached to a larger spending bill in the Senate and appears to enjoy bipartisan support. The rule, created by the U.S. Department of Labor, will take effect Oct. 1 unless Mikulski's change is approved.

This newspaper and others recently reported that according to Census Bureau data, wages for low-wage workers declined 2 percent since 2003 after factoring in inflation - this while worker productivity rose steadily. During the same period, wages for workers in the top income brackets kept well ahead of inflation. Fortunately, despite the severity of the issue, there are ways to fight wage stagnation. We need to invest in our work force by making adult education and training readily available.

Women make considerably less money than men in Maryland: 83 cents to the dollar, according to a study released last week. Windsor Mill resident Alison Assanah-Carroll was not surprised by the finding from the National Partnership for Women & Families, which showed that nearly a half-century after the federal Equal Pay Act was enacted, women are still paid less than men, not only in Maryland but nationwide. "It's not just a grave disparity, it's a travesty," said Assanah-Carroll, a former assistant regional census manager, who said that she earned less than her male counterparts even though she had better educational credentials and, in some cases, more experience.

Aspirins and short skirts and contraception, oh my! The last few weeks have seen a slew of Republican gaffes concerning women's sexuality. From Rick Santorum's billionaire supporter Foster Friess' waxing nostalgic about the good old days when women put aspirin "between their knees" in lieu of contraception to an online furor over whether the young conservative women at CPAC dressed too provocatively, the Republicans have a major woman problem on...

Costs for Carroll County families have risen more quickly than wages over the past decade, making self-sufficiency harder to achieve, according to a new study. A Carroll County family of one adult, a preschooler and a school-aged child needs $58,463 a year to cover basic costs, including housing, child care, food, transportation, health care and taxes, the study, titled the Self-Sufficiency Standard for Maryland, found. The standard was created by researchers at the University of Washington School of Social Work, in cooperation with the Maryland Community Action Partnership.

A family of three in Baltimore County needs about $62,000 just to make ends meet, a new report shows. And, without government assistance, minimum wage barely gets them a quarter of the way there. In Baltimore City, that same family of an adult with a preschooler and a school-age child needs nearly $50,000, the report said, for a bare-bones budget. The 2012 Self-Sufficiency Standard, scheduled to be released in Annapolis on Thursday morning, calculates the cost of living for Maryland families based on prices of such necessities as housing, food, transportation and child care.

Reports of wage cuts, social clubs, equipment and dam problems, temperance meetings and more are part of the historical events Laurel Mill superintendent George H. Nye documented during his nine years in Laurel between 1877-1885. The Laurel Historical Society will offer a glimpse into the past through Nye's eyes at "The Diaries of George Nye: An Inside Look 1877-1885," Thursday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. at the Laurel Municipal Pool meeting room, Ninth and Main streets. Ken Skrivseth, who with Jeri Witt has begun detailed transcriptions of Nye's daily entries, will discuss some of their discoveries and what it has taken to ensure accurate transcriptions of the hand-written documents.

Last Tuesday, a Delaware state senate committee approved legislation to raise that state's minimum wage to $8.25 by 2014, making it $1 above the federal government's (and Maryland's) current standard. If the measure becomes law, the Diamond State would join 17 other states that require a minimum wage in excess of the $7.25 federal standard. That Delaware, a state ranked in the top-quarter of states for its business tax climate (according to the Tax Foundation), should demonstrate such interest in raising the minimum wage adds to the evidence that it's not strictly a red or blue state or liberal versus conservative issue.

After more than four hours of testimony by business and religious leaders Thursday, a bill that would have required major retailers to pay workers the city's living wage died on a tie vote in a Baltimore City Council committee. Councilman Warren Branch, chairman of the three-member labor subcommittee, voted against the bill. Councilwoman Belinda Conaway voted in its favor; Councilman Nicholas D'Adamo was absent because of his parents' poor health. After the vote, the measure's sponsor said she was hopeful it could be resurrected.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has asked the unions representing Baltimore's 28,000 employees for major concessions -- including the possible elimination of already-negotiated pay raises -- to help erase a $54.1 million shortfall predicted for next year's budget.The mayor told the union leaders at a City Hall meeting Friday that scrapping the pay increases scheduled for July 1 would save the city $38 million, according to Clinton R. Coleman, the mayor's spokesman.Failing that, Mr. Schmoke has asked the unions to present alternative ways of trimming labor costs, which take the biggest share of the city's current $1.8 billion operating budget, according to administration officials.

All good: About 200,000 more jobs added in December, the lowest monthly unemployment rate (8.5 percent) in nearly three years, a front-page declaration that the economy has "gained steam" and the assertion by some employers that "the worst is over. " The most noteworthy job gains were in transportation and warehousing, retail, manufacturing, health care and mining, according to the Department of Labor. All good: Except you have to wonder how much these new jobs pay and what kind of benefits they provide.

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is spot-on ("Inequality, unemployment and unresponsive government," Nov. 9). In Baltimore, 10.4 percent of people are out of work and struggling to find jobs with decent pay. Our own Sen. Barbara Mikulski has attacked a new U.S. Department of Labor rule that would raise the prevailing local wage in certain jobs in industries like seafood, landscaping, and construction. Under the existing rule, employers must offer local and migrant landscaping workers $9.12/hour.