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Charlotte NC

Adams Celebrates Inclusion of Minimum Wage Increase in COVID-19 Stimulus

February 9, 2021

Adams is pushing to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025

Charlotte – Today, Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. (NC-12) celebrated legislation included in the House COVID-19 stimulus package that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025.

"The labor and sacrifice of our essential workers deserves to be recognized and rewarded. That is why I am proud to celebrate the inclusion of a minimum wage increase in the Education and Labor Committee's portion of the FY21 budget reconciliation bill, which enacts President Biden's American Rescue Plan," said Rep. Adams. "For too long, the employees who make American life as we know it possible have done so for poverty-level wages; and the devastating impacts of COVID-19 have only made the need for a livable wage more clear.This historic legislation, which raises the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 and lifts nearly 1 million people out of poverty, brings us closer than ever to achieving true justice for all workers."

Earlier this year, Adams and other Democratic leaders introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2021, which would gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025. Congress has not increased the federal minimum wage in over a decade, making this the longest stretch without an increase since the minimum wage was first established back in 1938.

The Economic Policy Institute reports that an estimated 146,000 workers would receive wage increases if a $15 per hour minimum wage is passed by Congress and signed into law. Of those 146,000 workers, 80,000 are women and 66,000 are Black. 12th District workers benefiting from the legislation would see an average annual wage increase of 18% or approximately $4,200 in 2020 dollars.

In 2006, as a Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives, Adams was able to successfully pass a one-dollar-an-hour increase in North Carolina's minimum wage, which lifted the wages of over 100,000 workers state-wide.

Congresswoman Alma Adams represents North Carolina's 12th Congressional District (Charlotte, Mecklenburg County). She serves on the House Financial Services Committee, on the House Committee on Education and Labor as the chair of the Workforce Protections subcommittee, and on the House Agriculture Committee as vice chair.

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