A review of employment data for the restaurant industry shows little connection between a state’s tipped minimum wage level and its rate of job growth. High tipped minimum wage levels do not produce slow job growth in the relevant industry.
Some cities and towns have higher concentrations of the labor force employed in low-wage work than others. Raising the minimum wage would tend to have a greater impact in these areas, particularly since workers who receive wage increases are likely to spend a portion of those increases locally.
Massachusetts has a separate minimum wage for workers who regularly earn tips, like waiters and hairdressers. We find that in states where the “tipped minimum wage” is well below the regular minimum wage, the poverty rate for tipped workers tends to be higher.
Workers across the Commonwealth—and the U.S—still confront a relatively weak labor market, and low-wage workers have been particularly affected by growing inequality and the declining value of the minimum wage.
Overwhelmingly, high-wage states are states with a well-educated workforce. Providing expanded access to high quality education will not only expand economic opportunity for residents, but also likely do more to strengthen the overall state economy than anything else a state government can do.
A strong minimum wage helps ensure that Massachusetts workers earn enough to support their families, and it can also help our economy by increasing the amount of money workers have to spend at local businesses. Our new FAQ answers a range of questions about the current minimum wage, and includes some of the main findings from our recent minimum wage reports.
The Massachusetts minimum wage has failed to keep pace with changes in the cost of living over the past four decades, and it has fallen further and further behind the wage levels of higher-paid workers
Massachusetts employers may pay a lower minimum wage to workers who regularly earn tips. This “tipped minimum wage” has not been increased for the last 14 years. Since 1968, the real value of the tipped minimum wage has fallen 58 percent, even further than the regular minimum wage.
Every career begins with a first job. In recent years, it has gotten harder for young people in Massachusetts to find that first job. In fact, nearly 1 in 7 is unemployed. In order to help young people find work and train for careers, our state government has created a number of job placement and training programs
To help improve the lives of poor children and their families, Massachusetts provides direct cash assistance through a program known as TAFDC. Over time, the value of this cash assistance has fallen significantly. For every dollar that an eligible family received in 1998, they receive just 58 cents today (adjusted for inflation).