2006年VOA标准英语-Congress Debates Minimum Wage Hike

By Jeff Swicord
Washington, DC
19 July 2006
 
watch Minimum Wage report

U.S. law has guaranteed most workers a minimum wage since the 1930s. The last increase in the wage was in 1997. Now Democrats¹ in the U.S. Congress say it's time for another raise. 

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Minimum wage workers in America: food service, hotel workers, security guards, and sales clerks all earn at least the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour, a figure set in 1997.  But Democrats in Congress are arguing that figure has not kept up with the times.  

 
Jared Bernstein
  
Jared Bernstein is a senior economist² with the Economic Policy Institute.  "The role that it plays is that it provides a modicum³ of wage support for our lowest wage workers, many of whom are the most disadvantaged workers in our society.  And if you look at who earns the minimum wage, you are going to find that it is disproportionately minorities."

Economic Policy Institute statistics predict a minimum wage increase would affect about 15 million people in a workforce⁴ of 150 million.  Only a few million workers actually depend on minimum wage jobs as their sole source of income.  

William Niskanen   
  
William Niskanen is chairman of the CATO institute, a policy center in Washington D.C.  He is opposed to raising the minimum wage.  He says it's bad economic policy. "It increases the price of hiring low skilled labor⁵.  That leads employers to do two things.  One is to hire less low skilled labor.  A second is that it leads them to economize⁶ on non-wage compensation and working conditions."

Twenty states in the U.S. have set their minimum wage higher than the $5.15 per hour mark.  Jared Bernstein argues that figure is not a livable wage in today's economy. "The economy looks great from 40,000 feet, but on the ground, you have got some problems.  We have quite strong growth in gross domestic product, which is a measure of economic growth.  Productivity growth has been really quite stellar.  But the wages and incomes of folks on the bottom half of the scale have been plodding⁷ along and in many years and quarters have been falling behind inflation."

Bernstein does not believe raising the minimum wage will result in job losses.  He argues that jobs were added after the last increase in 1997. "We have just never found these job loss effects.  It is just an argument that completely lacks evidence."

William Niskanen says improving the educational opportunities for low income families is a better way to fight poverty than raising the minimum wage.

"The United States spends way more for public schooling⁸ than any nation in the world.  And we place 15th, 20th in international tests in reading and mathematics.  We have compared to the rest of the world a very poorly performing public school system."

Democrats are using the issue to rally their base for the upcoming midterm congressional elections.  Recently they threatened to block a congressional pay hike if Republicans would not relent on the issue. They say congressional salaries have raisen almost $32,000 a year since the last increase in the minimum wage.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

3 modicum   

n.少量，一小份

参考例句：

• If he had a modicum of sense,he wouldn't do such a foolish thing.要是他稍有一点理智，他决不会做出如此愚蠢的事来。
• There's not even a modicum of truth in her statement.她说的话没有一点是真的。

4 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 economize   

v.节约，节省

参考例句：

• We're going to have to economize from now on. 从现在开始，我们不得不节约开支。
• We have to economize on water during the dry season. 我们在旱季不得不节约用水。

7 plodding   

a.proceeding in a slow or dull way

参考例句：

• They're still plodding along with their investigation. 他们仍然在不厌其烦地进行调查。
• He is plodding on with negotiations. 他正缓慢艰难地进行着谈判。

8 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。