New Oxfam-EPI Report: Working People Need Responsible Solutions That Boost Wages & Level the Playing Field

41.7 million workers earn under $12 an hour and 58.3 million workers earn under $15 an hour— that’s nearly half the workforce earning wages too low for families to thrive

WASHINGTON – Today, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA), and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) highlighted the findings of a new report by Oxfam and the Economic Policy Institute. The report entitled “Few Rewards: An Agenda to Give America’s Working Poor a Raise” illustrates the struggles of millions of low-wage working people across the nation. The report highlights the need to: increase the federal minimum wage; provide access to earned sick leave; protect overtime pay for millions of workers; and expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to young adults and childless workers. Murray, Scott, and DeLauro have led Senate and House Democrats in many efforts to introduce and support responsible solutions to boost wages and level the playing field for hardworking people.

“This data clearly shows that across the country families are working harder and harder, but still struggling to make ends meet—and that simply has to change. I’m proud to be fighting for policies that would help tens of millions of people nationwide, especially women and people of color, achieve the economic security they are already working so hard for,” said Senator Patty Murray (D-WA). “We know that when workers succeed, our economy succeeds and our country is stronger for it—and that’s why we need to act to raise the minimum wage, ensure that workers don’t have to choose between a paycheck and caring for themselves or loved ones, put in place updates to our overtime rules, help to lift the workers struggling the most out of poverty, and more. These steps would make a huge difference for workers and families in Washington State and across the country, and I’m committed to continuing to push for progress.”

“This new report from Oxfam and the Economic Policy Institute shows what a difference this Congress could make if it stepped up to the plate to help working families. It quantifies the heavy toll our inaction is taking on millions of working people in every state in the nation,” said Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA). “The report also provides clear evidence of the profound need for policies such as the Department of Labor’s update to the overtime rule which will make more than 4 million working people newly eligible for overtime pay. I will continue to fight for working families and I am thankful for Oxfam and EPI’s collaboration to give us the tools we need to make the case for enacting responsible solutions to help working families succeed.”

“We have an obligation to pursue policies that reflect the lives people are actually living. That means raising the minimum wage, providing access to sick leave, protecting overtime pay, and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit,” said Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). “The new report from the Economic Policy Institute and Oxfam is exactly the kind of context we need as we fight for policies that work for working families. Armed with the stories of millions of workers across the country, and with this excellent report, we must keep fighting to ensure that we make these policies a reality.”

FULL REPORT: Few Rewards: An Agenda to Give America’s Working Poor a Raise

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