Tag Archives: Bill de Blasio

Home, Labor Studies, Urban Studies

$15/hr in NYC: A Historic Move

Yesterday, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio made a historic announcement: by 2018, he’ll raise the minimum wage for city workers to $15/hour. From WNYC:

[T]he mayor described the move as part of his larger OneNYC plan to move more New Yorkers out of poverty: “Our goal is, again, 800,000 people over the next 10 years and one of the central ways to do that is to raise wage levels.”

“We’re going to be able to do that now for 50,000 employees, which means thousands and thousands of family members will be affected as well,” said de Blasio.

The news of the wage boost comes just two weeks after the mayor told WNYC he would issue an executive order to guarantee all non-union city employees at least six weeks of fully-paid parental leave and up to 12 weeks when combined with accrued vacation time. Continue reading $15/hr in NYC: A Historic Move →

Home, Urban Studies

Black families’ middle-class crisis

This article originally appeared on The Hill.

By Basil Smikle Jr.

Congressional Democrats are looking to renew and refine their support for the middle class through increased wage schemes and tax policies. But a spate of current research paints a disconcerting picture of America’s shrinking middle-income households and reveals particular struggles for black Americans, for whom the accumulation and intergenerational transfer of wealth are increasingly nonexistent. Democrats and progressive leaders looking to 2016 should shy away from all-or-nothing ideological debates and address the concerns of important constituencies, mindful of their intricacies and nuances.

A recent New York Times article asserts that the increasing number of households moving into upper-income brackets veiled substantial middle-class contraction over the last 50 years. Continue reading Black families’ middle-class crisis →