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Article: Right data.(problems with raising minimum wage)(Column)
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- June 17, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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DICK Armey makes $148,400 a year. That's nearly 10 times the $15,500 poverty threshold for a four-person family. At $4.25 an hour, a full-time minimum-wage worker earns just $8,500 a year. Yet Armey opposes ''with every fiber of my being'' an increase in the minimum wage.
A callous majority leader? Not exactly. Armey, a former economics professor, knows the numbers. About half of all minimum-wage workers are under 21. Most are not poor -- 68.2 per cent live in families with income two or more times the poverty line. And for less advantaged youth, whose work is crucial to the family's well-being, a higher minimum has historically meant less opportunity.
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