By Eric Morath and Jeffrey Sparshott
Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2015

Restaurant workers received bigger raises last year than workers in most other jobs.

Is that because the minimum wage has increased in recent years in two dozen states? Or because Americans are eating out more, causing restaurant owners to bump up pay for burger flippers, waitresses and dishwashers?

The reality is some of both.

Restaurants have hired at a faster pace than the typical company since the middle of 2010. Food workers’ hourly pay grew 3.1% last year after growing less than 2% a...

By Eric Morath and Jeffrey Sparshott
Wall Street Journal, Feb 27, 2015

Wage growth is breaking out in an unexpected corner of the U.S. economy: the nation’s restaurants and bars.

Food-service employment has surged since the recession ended nearly six years ago, growing twice as fast as overall payrolls. But those gains had largely failed to translate into better wages in the sector, until recently. Restaurant wages zoomed up to an annualized pace of more than 3% in the second half of last year from below a 1.5% pace in the first half of 2013...

By Basia Hellwig
Investopedia, Feb 26, 2015

Last week, Walmart (WMT), the largest private employer in the United States, announced that half a million of its workers would get a pay bump to at least $9 an hour by April (2015) and at least $10 by next February (2016). That’s good news for Walmart employees, but also is likely to have a ripple effect for many more at other large employers of low-wage workers. One might ask, what took so long? ...

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25, or $15,080 a year, since 2009...

By Windsor Genova
Local News Nashville, Feb 24, 2015
Nationally syndicated by Local News Network with placements in Baltimore, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Ft. Worth, Milwaukee, Tampa, and many more.

Retail giant Walmart Inc. announced Thursday it will increase the minimum hourly wage of its half a million employees to $9 in April and to $10 next year. ...

"Walmart’s low wages have been a drag on the U.S. economy, with many of its employees relying on public assistance just to get by. We need to restore the eroded purchasing power of the federal minimum wage so that paying wages that workers can live on is not optional. That will boost business and strengthen our economy,” said Holly Sklar , chief executive of the Business for a Fair Minimum Wage ( BFMW ), according to The New York Times.

By John Finnerty
Meadville Tribune (PA), Feb 22, 2015

Supporters of a higher minimum wage say larger payroll costs are mitigated in the long run. Better paid workers are more productive and less apt to change jobs, which lowers training costs, said Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president of the Business for a Fair Minimum Wage campaign.

Barron-Menza’s group released data that show 61 percent of small business owners support an increase in the federal minimum wage.

By Kate Rogers
CNBC, Feb 20, 2015

With Wal-Mart raising the entry-level wage for workers to $9 an hour, the pressure is mounting for other private employers to follow. ...

The retailer's decision revives the stalled effort to hike the federal minimum wage, says Holly Sklar, chief executive of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a national advocacy group. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

"This adds to the growing momentum for raising the federal minimum wage," said Sklar in an email to CNBC. "The business case for raising starting pay is strong...

By Jody Knauss
PR Watch, Feb 20, 2015

To much fanfare, Walmart announced yesterday a program to raise wages for its lowest paid workers. ...

Holly Sklar of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage notes many Walmart workers rely on foodstamps and other forms of public assistance to make ends meet. And “given that the buying power of the 1968 federal minimum wage is nearly $11 [per hour] adjusted for inflation, Walmart should be setting higher targets than $9 in April 2015 and $10 in 2016,” she said.

By Diane Stafford and Mark Davis
Kansas City Star and KansasCity.com, Feb 19, 2015

The announcement Thursday by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that it is raising pay for many of its workers was another sign that the economy is improving and that companies are feeling the pressure from nationwide protests for higher wages. ...

Several large retailers, such as Costco, and other businesses have joined an organization called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. Holly Sklar, the group’s chief executive, said it is “important that our nation’s largest private employer is finally beginning to follow many other companies in raising starting pay.” ...

By Hiroko Tabuchi
New York Times, Feb 19, 2015

Walmart, the largest private employer in the country, said on Thursday that it would increase wages for a half-million employees, a move that comes amid persistent scrutiny of its labor practices and high employee turnover. ...

Holly Sklar, chief executive of the Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a group of business leaders pressing to raise the minimum wage, called for further pay increases.

By John Finnerty, CNHI Harrisburg Correspondent
Sharon Herald (PA), February 11, 2015

HARRISBURG – ... Supporters of a higher minimum wage say larger payroll costs are mitigated in the long run. Better paid workers are more productive and less apt to change jobs, which lowers training costs, said Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president of the Business for a Minimum Wage campaign.

Barron-Menza’s group released data that show 61 percent of small business owners support an increase in the federal minimum wage.

The fact that dozens of other states have acted before the federal government affirms broad...

By Karen Shuey
Lancaster Online, LNP Newspapers, February 9, 2015

HARRISBURG — The large room in the basement of Grace United Methodist Church, a few blocks from the state Capitol, was packed Monday afternoon ...

Sen. Christine Tartaglione, a Democrat from Philadelphia and prime sponsor of the bill, was joined by the lieutenant governor, some of her colleagues, local business leaders, labor advocates and low-wage workers at the rally to raise the minimum wage. Under the proposed legislation, the state would incrementally raise the minimum wage rate to $10.10 per hour by 2016, after which...

By Christian Alexandersen
Penn Live, Patriot News, February 9, 2015

Chants of "Low wage is not OK" were heard around the Capitol Complex Monday during a march and rally to raise Pennsylvania's minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. About 200 people, including Lt. Gov. Michael Stack, met at the Grace Methodist Church for a morning of speeches and discussions before marching from State Street to Commonwealth Avenue. Once inside the Capitol, the Raise the Wage in PA marchers met with legislators ...

Rep. Patty Kim, D-Harrisburg, announced she was introducing a bill Wednesday that would raise...

By Katie Kyros
Fox 43 TV (York, PA), February 9, 2015

Minimum wage workers marched at the state Capitol led by Democratic lawmakers. They’re supporting Democrats’ bills in the state Senate and the House that would raise the wage to $10.10. ...

“Right now it’s a poverty wage, $7.25 an hour,” says Charlie Crystle, a supporter who is the CEO of Lancaster Food Company. “I doubt that you can live on that, most people certainly can’t.” ...

Read more and See Video
 

Letter to the Editor By Bob Kefauver
York Dispatch, February 4, 2015

Republican state Sen. Scott Wagner has introduced legislation to slightly raise the minimum wage. ... Wagner proposes to raise the state's $7.25 minimum wage by 50 cents a year over three years to $8.75. This is his calculated and cynical response to the growing bipartisan support for raising the wage floor to $10.10, which would give 1 million workers in Pennsylvania a raise and boost our economy. ...

When people earn a few more dollars for their hard work, they spend it in...

By Eric Morath
Wall Street Journal, Jan 20, 2015

... Congress hasn’t acted on the president’s calls to raise the minimum wage ... Still, the White House doesn’t view that as a failure. Instead, the administration is quick to highlight the number of states, cities and businesses that have increased their pay floors in recent years. Last year, 14 states passed minimum wage increases, including four via ballot initiatives. ...

Business Shout-Out
Mr. Obama may use the speech to once again salute businesses that voluntary pay their workers higher starting wages. Last year, he invited...