Sunday, July 26, 2009
Kansas no longer has the lowest minimum wage in the nation. The state’s minimum hourly wage rose to $7.25 Friday.
Former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed legislation April 23 raising the state’s minimum hourly wage to $7.25, effective Jan. 1, but federal legislation superseded it.
The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 increased the federal minimum wage in three steps: to $5.85 per hour effective July 24, 2007; to $6.55 per hour effective July 24, 2008; and now to $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.
Melinda Robinson, Hutchinson senior, is a sales floor team member at Super Target, 3201 S Iowa St., and is the newscast director for KUJH-TV News. She makes less than $8 per hour at both jobs.
“I feel like it was really important for them to raise the minimum wage,” Robinson said. “I think it was a really good thing because the more people make, the more they’re going to spend.”
Robinson said the increase was necessary because it was “awful” to think that people were trying to support themselves and their families on minimum wage.
“I’m just a college kid trying to support myself, and it takes me both of my jobs to do that,” Robinson said.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 791,000 Kansans who were paid hourly rates, 31,000 of them earned at or below the federal minimum wage and received a raise on Friday.
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