Florida
Workers Left Out of Economic Boom
Posted Sept. 7, 2015 05:15 pm | Public News Service
SOUTH MIAMI,
FL - Over the past 35 years, income inequality in
Florida has gotten much worse, according to a new report
from Florida International University (FIU).
The report, The State of Working Florida 2015, says the
wage gap between the top 10 percent and the bottom 10
percent has grown by almost two-thirds.
The report, just in time for Labor Day, also says the
state's GDP is up and unemployment is down, but the
poor, stuck in low-wage jobs, have been left behind.
Jorge Zumaeta, the report's author and an economist at
FIU, quantifies the gap.
"The wages of the top 10 percent wage earners grew 25
times faster than the wages of low wage earners between
2001 and 2014," he explains.
The report recommends raising the minimum wage, doing a
better job of enforcing existing labor laws, increasing
transparency in wages so workers know if they're being
paid unfairly and building more state partnerships with
businesses to train workers.
Cynthia Hernandez, community outreach director for the
South Florida AFL-CIO, says she is frustrated with the
state's political leadership and would like to see the
current attorney general start prosecuting companies
that cheat their employees.
She also faults then-Gov. Jeb Bush for closing the State
Department of Labor in 2002.
"Year after year, we see the gap between the rich and
the poor increasing," she stresses. "Yet, we have
elected officials who still do not introduce policies to
strengthen our middle class."
Proposals to increase the state's minimum wage have
failed in the legislature multiple times in recent
years. However, several Florida counties do have
living-wage ordinances that require large county
contractors to pay a wage tied to the cost of living.
Photos/graphics and links added by the Observer
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