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| For Release January 14, 2005 | Contact Jon Shure 609-393-1145 |
Statement by Jon Shure on
Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey's
Release of "Out of Reach 2004" Report
Jan. 6, 2005
To view the report, go to: http://www.nlihc.org/oor2004/
The findings of this report underscore the need for any number of policy changes. And one of them is this: New Jersey needs to raise the minimum wage. People working for minimum wage in New Jersey not only can't afford adequate housing-they can't even dream about it.
It's hard to be poor. But it's even harder in New Jersey, a state where the cost of living is one-third higher than the national average. It is a source of shame that our state's minimum wage is the same $5.15 an hour as the federal minimum wage. In the early 1990s New Jersey had the highest minimum wage in the nation. It is time for our state once again to set the standard. In fact, it's long past time. New Jersey's minimum wage hasn't gone up since 1999. The people who rely on this wage are falling farther and farther behind.
You can't live in New Jersey on Tennessee wages or Oklahoma wages or Arkansas wages. But New Jersey's minimum wage is the same as those states. Let's see what that means. In those states, a couple working roughly 40 hours a week at minimum wage can pretty much afford a 2-bedroom unit at the fair market rate. In New Jersey? Forget about it. It takes 158 hours a week at minimum wage in New Jersey to afford that kind of living arrangement. And it's getting worse: last year it "only" took 153 hours.
Unless we redefine marriage in New Jersey as involving four people instead of two, a decent place to live is far, far out of reach for a family making minimum wage.
New Jersey's minimum wage should be $7.50 an hour, for starters. And the law should require automatic yearly increases to reflect the cost of living. Three states now have this feature and it's important, because if low-wage workers have to wait years at a time for politicians to get around to giving them the raise they need, they will never catch up. Speaking on behalf of the Fairness Alliance I call on the Governor and Legislature to act quickly on raising the minimum wage, and automatic annual increases.
New Jersey spends millions of dollars a year competing against our neighboring states to try to get business to come here. We should be trying at least as hard to be sure that working people make enough to live here.
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