Legislation has been introduced that would increase the Kansas minimum wage to the national level of $5.15. 1)The Kansas minimum wage is the lowest in the nation-- $2.65 an hour. A Kansan who works 40 hours a week at this level makes about $5,000 a year. 2) Claims that raising the minimum wage would make an unfriendly business climate cannot be supported. 3) The state benefits from a more reasonable minimum wage. 4) Simple justice requires that a fair week's work be paid a fair week's wage. The current Kansas minimum wage is the same as the federal minimum wage in 1978 -— 26 years ago! And that is without adjusting for inflation. The Kansas minimum wage is lower than minimum wages paid in Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands. Most states, including all those that border Kansas, have adopted the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour as their state minimum. Eleven states have state minimum wage rates higher than the federal minimum, The real value of the national minimum wage is 30% below its peak in 1968, and 24% below its level in 1979. It would take an increase to $8 an hour to bring the real value of the federal minimum wage back to its 1968 level. Approximately 26,000 workers in Kansas earn less than the federal minimum wage. Who are they? They may be the worker who:
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