Good news for working seniors, effective last Friday, July 24, 2009, the third installment of minimum wage increase came through. Although the increase is not a life-changing one, this proves to be very helpful for most seniors struggling with daily expenses, and not to mention their medical needs and bills. This is the third and final federal wage increase which preceded the first two ones in 2007 and 2008. However, if as an employee you are qualified for both state and federal wages, the higher of two shall apply.
The wage increase states that there should be a 70-centavos raise to the $6.55 making it at about $7.25 per hour. This means that there will be a $28 more every week for employed seniors if you are working under the federal minimum wage. On the other hand, seniors who are working under the disability program, please be reminded that you are entitled to receive special minimum wage for workers with disability. Furthermore, seniors who are working through the Senior Citizen Employment Program are also eligible for the increase. State wage is expected to follow lead after the federal wage increase has taken effect.
Working seniors are now looking forward to their next paycheck knowing that there will be a big difference as compared to their last one. Most of them are thankful for the increase since it will help them tremendously with their daily living expenses—something that keeps these seniors working even if it’s way beyond their retirement years. It seems that everyone in the workforce had been looking forward for this raise for some time now considering the fact that the economic crisis has been affecting us still.
Prior to this very good news, there had been debates on whether to push through with the wage increase or postpone it for next year. Economic analysts argued against it since they fear that it will only aggravate the situation further. What they fear the most is that small businesses might see the need to cut back on hiring employees or shorten their working hours to ease the stress of wage increase to their businesses. Also, big companies who are hiring employees on a regular basis would be compelled to seek people who are better experienced for the job at hand, eliminating the possibility for entry level jobs which help those first time workers with no experience under their belts. Nonetheless, this situation doesn’t pose any risk for seniors but is proving to be an advantage since most seniors are well-experienced and don’t need further training.
