Massachusetts hasn’t raised the minimum wage for workers in half a decade, and Beacon Hill lawmakers say it puts employees at a disadvantage as they try to pay bills and support their families.
“It’s a problem that is long overdue,” says state Senator Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton. “These low-wage workers have bills to pay and basic needs they need to have met … the rate does not keep up with the cost of purchasing products that are out there.”
As the cost of living increases, Pacheco says, the money earned by minimum wage workers doesn’t keep pace. On Tuesday, Pacheco will bring a bill before the legislature’s Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development and call for a tiered minimum wage increase plan that would help support economic recovery in the state.