$15 minimum wage met with skepticism in Vermont [View all]
MONTPELIER — Vermont gubernatorial candidate Peter Galbraith (D) is making a $15 minimum wage a centerpiece of his campaign, but Republican opponents and one local economics professor say the wage could hurt Vermont’s economy.
Galbraith, a former state senator and U.S. diplomat, has touted the higher wage in television ads and press releases, as well as at a recent debate. The Democrat from Townshend proposes raising the wage to $12.50 immediately, then upping it to $15 in increments.
“I’m totally committed, and have been for a long time, to the higher minimum wage,” Galbraith said during last month’s debate in Irasburg. “When I was in the Senate I pushed legislation to introduce a minimum wage of $12 by 2015. I’m sorry that it didn’t happen.”
Galbraith argues that the minimum wage didn’t increase unemployment during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and says a $15 minimum wage today, when adjusted for inflation, is less than what the wage was in the 1960s.
Read more: http://www.suncommunitynews.com/articles/the-vermont-eagle/15-minimum-wage-met-with-skepticism-in-vermont/
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