Today’s Solutions: January 15, 2025

Salary increase helps employees

Company that raised minimum salaries to $70,000 is still thriving

Almost seven years ago, The Optimist Daily did a piece on Dan Price, CEO of the credit card processing company Gravity Payments. At the time Price was making news by raising the salaries of all of his employees to a minimum of $70,000 a year. This moral decision was applauded by many, but critics Read More...

Nobel prize awarded for work d

Nobel prize awarded for work demonstrating benefits of raising minimum wage

US-based economist David Card is one of this year’s recipients of the Nobel prize for economics, awarded for his work which helps answer one of the field’s most contested ideas surrounding minimum wage. ​​Card is Canadian born but based at the University of California, Berkeley. So what Read More...

Seattle protects Uber and Lyft

Seattle protects Uber and Lyft drivers with new gig economy wages

The gig economy is growing, but these workers are not always guaranteed the same protections as employees in more traditional roles. In a move to protect these workers, the city of Seattle has passed a new wage scale for Uber and Lyft drivers, including a $16.39 minimum wage, to ensure their wages Read More...

New study finds raising minimu

New study finds raising minimum wage just $1 would cause suicide rates to drop

Though the federal minimum wage has stayed stagnant for a decade, there has been a push to increase the minimum wage in certain cities and states, and the benefits of doing so go beyond merely enabling people to afford their rent. A higher minimum wage could keep people out of prison and has Read More...

Why raising the minimum wage i

Why raising the minimum wage in restaurants is a win for everyone

Cities including New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco have adopted ambitious minimum wage increases. In New York, the new minimum wage of $15 an hour raised concerns of layoffs and cut hours, but for restaurant employees, the effects were quite the opposite.  New York has shown that the Read More...

To shrink wealth disparity in

To shrink wealth disparity in America, we need to raise the minimum wage

While there’s much to debate when it comes to the federal minimum wage in America, there’s one fact that is not up for debate: In nearly a decade, the current rate of $7.25 per hour hasn’t changed. And adjusted for inflation, that’s worth less than what the minimum wage delivered people in Read More...