DAVIS VOTES FOR INCREASE IN MINIMUM WAGE January 10, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. --U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis today voted for an increase in the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over two years. The measure passed the House 315 to 116.

"How fitting during National Poverty Awareness Month, the House debated and passed an increase in the federal minimum wage," Davis said. "The inflation-adjusted value and the purchasing power of today's wage have languished at a time when working families have seen sharp increases in healthcare, gas, and home heating."

The inflation-adjusted value of today's minimum wage is the equivalent of only $3.95. The federal minimum wage has remained unchanged for the longest period since it was established under the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. Since its last change in September 1997, the purchasing power of the minimum wage has deteriorated by 20%.

"I want to stand up for the countless moms and dads earning only $5.15 an hour in my district who have expressed to me how difficult it is to provide the basic necessities for their children," said Davis, who represents the third highest percentage of blue-collar workers in Congress.

According to estimates by the Economic Policy Institute, some 5.6 million workers will be affected by an increase in the minimum wage. Of those 5.6 million, 151,000 Tennesseans will be directly affected. Tennesseans indirectly affected, those earning within a few dollars above the proposed minimum wage, would be roughly 350,000. While not legally mandated, some employers, after past increases, have raised the wages of workers earning above the minimum wage in order to preserve internal wage structures. This practice is known as the spillover effect.