NEW YORK VOICES : Election 2002 | Thirteen / WNET New York

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Do you think the next Governor should raise the minimum wage?

The General Industry Minimum Wage Act provided that all employees in the state must be paid at least $5.15 per hour. That rate became effective on March 31, 2000. More recently, there have been numerous bills introduced into the state legislature that would again push up the minimum wage. So far no legislation has been enacted.

Read fact sheets on the minimum wage put out by the New York State Department of Labor and the AFL-CIO , or arguments against an increase from the New York State Health Care Providers, Inc. and the New York State Business Council.

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"You can't create wealth just by saying you want to create it. You have to have more productivity, more people working."

Tom Golisano (I)

"There's no evidence that in any state where they've increased the minimum wage... that it has driven business away... It gives us a better paid, better motivated work force."

H. Carl McCall (D)

"The minimum wage is one of those issues that arouses enormous emotion, but has relatively little impact. Wage rates are essentially set by demand."

Fred Siegel
Historian and Political Analyst