Teen Observer Archive

In early June, D.C. officials promised a $15 minimum wage for low-income workers, according to the Washington Post. The “Fight for $15” movement has been campaigning for years, rallying for higher wages in American businesses across the country.

The movement has seen victories in New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Washington, North Carolina, D.C., and other states and territories, according to the National Employment Law Project.

The most recent of the campaign’s successes, that of Washington, D.C., presents a significant potential shift in the area’s economy. The concept has sparked mass debate because of the potential effects of higher wages.

Expatistan states that Washington, D.C. is the third most expensive city in the United States. With D.C.’s high cost of living, the raise in wages opens a world of possibilities for impoverished individuals and low-income households; however, the raise could also lead to the downfall of several local stores or restaurants, critics claim.

Katrina Jenifer, supervisor at a Tenleytown Best Buy, says that the raise in wages won’t significantly affect some established businesses like Best Buy. According to Jenifer, since most Best Buy employees are already earning more than minimum wage, the staff will see hardly any effect.

Whereas larger businesses such as Best Buy may not be put under pressure after the wage raise takes effect, many speculate that chains like McDonald’s may feel the strain since many of their employees are paid minimum wage.

Jenifer suggests that employees at smaller businesses such as restaurants or supermarkets will be more affected by the wage raise, meaning people of all ages will be exposed to the benefits and drawbacks of the change.

“The typical minimum wage worker is not a high school student earning weekend pocket money,” the United States Department of Labor found. The department says 89 percent of people who would be affected by the wage rage are 20 years or older.

Defenders of the wage raise use this as a main reason to support the change–adults with low-income jobs will be able to better care for their families.

“…the current minimum wage leaves too many families in poverty,” says Heather Boushey of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. “[Earning federal minimum wage] puts a single adult just barely above poverty. But if that worker has to support any other people—such as a child—then this family would be living below the U.S. poverty threshold.”

At the beginning of 2016, the lowest state minimum wage was $4.63 (average of federal and state minimum wage) in Oklahoma, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

A full-time worker earning the federal minimum wage and working 40 hours a week would have an annual salary of $15,080. The average annual cost of living for a single adult in America is $28,474, CareerTrends says. Many argue that federal minimum wage is not enough to live on.

The visual above displays the comparison between annual income and cost of living in the U.S. The data assumes that all adults earn federal minimum wage and work 40 hours a week.

Local businesses that cannot afford to pay their workers more than the current federal minimum wage may suffer if their states vote to raise the wage. Management at the Blue Scoop, a locally owned ice cream shop in Delaware, feels that a wage raise would be too much for their business to handle.

Support a living wage but raising minimum wage in DE to over $10 an hour? My small seasonal business will have a hard time absorbing that

— The Blue Scoop (@thebluescoop) March 7, 2016

Washington, D.C.’s minimum wage will be gradually rising in the future, reaching $15 by 2020 according to the Washington Post. Economic effects will follow.

Demonstrators prepare signs supporting the raising of the federal minimum wage during May Day demonstrations in New York May 1, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

The D.C City Council approved a gradual minimum wage increase to $15 an hour by 2020 on June 27, 2016. On July 1 the minimum wage was raised to $11.50 an hour, which will start the gradual increase. D.C. joins 10 other states, like California and New York, that plan to gradually increase their minimum wage.

The unanimous vote approved the DNC’s platform presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ legislation, placed in July of 2015 and strongly supported by Bernie Sanders, to raise the minimum wage. After submitting his bill in 2015, Sanders joined a march on Capitol Hill and stated, “It is a national disgrace that millions of full-time workers are living in poverty and millions more are forced to work two or three jobs just to pay their bills.”

The vote will increase the minimum wage in D.C by 70%, and will become the highest minimum wage in the country by 2020, when the increase will end. The lowest minimum wage is Wyoming, at $5.15 an hour, and there are no plans as of now to increase the Wyoming minimum wage.

The D.C City Council, known by their democratic and progressive actions, was on track to pass the bill ever since it was introduced in 2015. Moreover, President Obama released a press statement after the vote to raise the minimum wage came through saying, “I commend the District of Columbia, Mayor Muriel Bowser, and the Council of the District of Columbia for raising the District’s minimum wage. Since my first call to raise wages in 2013, 18 states and D.C have taken action- action that will help over 7 million Americans.”

Meanwhile, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, agrees the minimum wage should be increased, but not so suddenly and not by so much. Her campaign site notes that Clinton supports a gradual raise of the minimum wage to $12 an hour. She supports movements like the one in New York, where a law was signed to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour while the economic effects are monitored.

On the other hand, Donald Trump, presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has stated that he will keep the minimum wage where it is now if he is elected president. On August 20, 2015 he stated, “having a low minimum wage is not a bad thing for this country.” According to his platform, Donald Trump says he will bring more jobs to America, which will wipe out the need for an increase of the minimum wage.

While some agree with the views of Trump and Clinton, some disagree. Kenneth Rambertt, D.C resident, said that “the minimum wage should be raised, what’s the harm? This is America!” Rambertt described how he worked for Johnsons for $7 an hour and said he was “a slave for them.” Many other Americans agree that the importance of the U.S economy partly hinges on the minimum wage ceiling.

The Pew Research Center found that 84% of Americans cite the economy as a “very important” issue when deciding on who to support in the upcoming election. Moreover, 80% of Clinton supporters cite that the economy is important to their vote, versus 90% of Trump supporters.

The nation-wide movement to raise the minimum wage will surely affect the presidential race. The decision to support or reject the increase in the wage will affect voters decision to support a candidate, as many citizens look to the economy as a key deciding factor in their vote.

DC’s city council members voted unanimously to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020 on June 7th. The law that was passed includes a year-by-year plan of how the district will reach the $15 wage, increasing it as each year passes until 2020.

Washington DC is known for having the biggest pay gap in the whole country, according to New York magazine, and supporters of the minimum wage raise agree that a $15 minimum is needed to help close the income gap in DC and larger cities.

According to the “Fight for $15” movement, minimum wage, workers are “forced to live in poverty” despite their hard work, which is why they strike and work in hundreds of cities throughout North America and the world.

Living in DC has a high cost and Mayor Bowser acknowledged that some people “work two to three jobs and still struggle to make ends meet”, according to the Washington Post, even though DC already has the highest minimum wage in the country, $10.50, according to the Raise the Minimum Wage project.

 

Jonathan, a physicist and staff scientist at AU, believes businesses will have to “rethink the way they are organized but corporate entities will definitely survive.” He also believes the federal government should “guarantee a minimum income, not wage, based on the area.”

As of July 1st, DC has the highest minimum wage in the country at $10.50, while the lowest minimum wage is $5.15 in Georgia and Wyoming, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Others think raising the minimum wage will relieve the stress of worrying about making ends meet at the end of the month with rent and other expenses – like Jackie, a cashier at AU’s Eagle’s Nest and Christine, a professor at AU.

On the other hand, small business owners are worried this decision may have a negative impact on their community. Carolina Story, co-owner of Straw Stick & Brick delicatessen (DC) told The Daily Signal the minimum wage raise “puts a big stop on little startups like ours.” Other small business owners are afraid they might have to reduce their staff or make major changes within the business in order to stay afloat.

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office released a video on their official YouTube channel announcing the deal with Fight for $15 movement in which she states the raise of the minimum wage for the District.

WASHINGTON – The District of Columbia’s city council voted to raise minimum wage to $15 in June 2016.

The Fair Shot Minimum Wage Emergency Amendment Act of 2016 has been enacted “[t]o amend, on an emergency basis, the Minimum Wage Revision Act of 1992 to progressively increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020.”

According to USA Today, Washington, D.C., is the third wealthiest city in America.  However, a high income leads to high living expenses and USA Today goes on to report that the cost of a “comfortable” life in D.C. is $108,092 annually. The high cost of living in the city is one of the driving factors behind the council’s decision to increase the minimum wage.

Some who oppose the raise in wage believe that the increase will cause the expenses for living in the city to increase as well.  Tyon Britton, store associate of Ace Hardware, disagrees because “the cost of living in the city is already sky high.”  Britton supports the council’s decision because he believes it is “good for a lot of people, especially people who don’t have a lot of education.”

#ConservativeBecause raising the minimum wage won’t raise retirement checks, but it’ll raise the prices of everything else.

— Kyle Pappas (@jarkbat13) July 11, 2016

Costs are all going up. That’s why it’s time to raise the #minimumwage to $15/hour. SIGN to join the movement! https://t.co/5VBKJuYtf2

— Peg (@FluffyCakeWhore) July 10, 2016

New York and California already have plans to raise the state minimum wage to $15 by 2019 and 2022 respectively, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Both states contain a city or cities included in USA Today’s list of the ten wealthiest cities in America. The trend of wealthy areas having high minimum wages is also exhibited by CNBC’s list of the ten most expensive states to live in.  Of the ten states, New Jersey has the lowest minimum wage and it is still the sixteenth highest in the country.

Washington D.C. currently has the highest minimum wage in the country at $10.50 an hour, according to the National Council of State Legislatures.

Minimum wage is one of the primary issues confronting candidates in the 2016 election.  Presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) changes positions on the issue fairly often, however, according to The Politics and Elections Portal, he has said that “[w]e can’t have a situation where our labor is so much more expensive than other countries’ that we can no longer compete.”

Candidate Bernie Sanders (D), on the other hand, strongly supports an increase in the federal minimum wage.  On Friday he won a $15 minimum wage amendment to the Democratic platform, according to Newsday.

Fellow candidate and Democrat Hillary Clinton also supports the increase, according to The Politics and Elections Portal.  She has voiced her support for the Fight for 15 campaign and finds the minimum wage for tipped workers especially unfair “because it is assumed that they’re gonna make all this money on tips.”

The D.C. Council agreed to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 on Tuesday. The voting was reportedly unanimous, as stated by the Washington Post. Fourteen states began the year with higher wages, and four other states have additional increases scheduled for 2016.

The $15 per hour minimum wage measure, which is called “Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2016”  by petitioners and was not put on the ballot for voters in Washington D.C. The city council aims to raise the minimum wage to $15 by the year 2020, and this initiative was met with encouragement from supporters, who recently saw a wage increase from $10.50 to $11.50 in D.C.

This victory for the “Fight for $15” campaign is viewed by minimum wage workers and non-minimum wage workers as both positive and negative.

Alle Goldsmith, 19, is a student at D.C.’s American University who works at a coffee shop inside the campus; She believes that “it’s good and bad,” because “more people are gonna be able to afford all their lives’ necessities, but it will make the job market more competitive.” The journalism student makes $12.50 an hour, and she can safely state that “for students, it’s very beneficial,” since it ‘’makes it so you can work and study.”

What the D.C. Council decided still needs to be confirmed by a final vote, and it seemingly forestalled a November ballot measure, which would have raised the minimum wage to $15 for all workers, even waiters and such workers who receive tips.

Sue Anti, a D.C. resident, when asked whether she believes that the fight for a higher minimum wage will become a nation-wide trend, she responded by saying that “anything’s possible, but there is a lot of opposition to it, I don’t know that it will.” Although it may not affect her community, Anti agrees that “if people can afford a living by working then they will try harder to get jobs,” which would make the job market more competitive than it is now.

The D.C. Council’s proposal would increase wages for approximately 114,000 working people, which would be around 14 percent of all D.C. workers, as well as more than one-fifth of D.C. private-sector workers. When the minimum wage reaches $15, affected workers will earn roughly $2,900  more per year than they did before.

As stated in California’s “Fair Wage Act of 2016″, the sole purpose of the proposal is “to ensure that workers receive wages that will financially support them and their families,“ in order to improve the quality of life in across the United States.

Taking into account the possible repercussions of this decision, it will take “a lot of re-calibrating the budget,” as stated by Garrett Schlichte, an event coordinator at the American University. Given the high standard of living within Washington D.C. and the rising inflation within the nation, which went up 1 percent year-on-year in May of 2016, this change is one that Schlichte would “much rather figure out how to accommodate… than [any] other change.’ 

The city council of the District of Columbia confirmed that it would increase the minimum wage within the area over the next couple of years.

The “Fair Shot Minimum Wage Amendment Act of 2016” works to modify the “Minimum Wage Amendment Act of 1992.” As a result of this act, which was signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser on June 7th, 2016, the city’s minimum wage will increase over the next several years. This growth will last until 2020, when it reaches a rate of $15 an hour.

Many are in support of the policy, holding that workers deserve to be paid more for their work, and that people in low paying jobs require more wealth in order to sustain themselves and lift them up out of poverty.

“I think it’s fair for people to be compensated and get the credit that they deserve,” says Joanna Sobieski, a graduate of American University’s School of Communication.

The primary focus of those in favor of the policy is making the new minimum wage a “livable wage,” in which someone can support his or herself without the need for outside assistance, which some believe would consequently decrease the cost of the welfare system on the government.

According to the “Living Wage Increase Notice of 2016” signed by Director of the D.C. Department of Employment Services, Deborah A. Carroll, states that the “livable wage” in the D.C. area is $13.85 as of January 1st.

While some support of the act, others are concerned about its potential consequences. “Some businesses will struggle to give higher wages to their workers and will have to shift their priorities,” says Max Leopold, an American University student in favor of the new policy.

Due to the increased cost in hiring workers that would result from the act, some people think that some businesses will be forced to fire some of their employees, forcing them into even more severe levels of poverty. Another possibility is that companies will raise the prices of their products in order to make up for their lost revenue, increasing the cost of living substantially. Others claim that when the minimum wage workers get a pay increase it will result in everyone who previously earned more them will also desire a raise in salary, increasing the severity of the previously stated issues.

One interesting factor to minimum wage laws is that for jobs in which employees are permitted to accept tips the minimum wage is much lower. This is because the gratuities payed by the consumer to the worker is meant to supplement their income at the cost of a higher wage. As a result, the minimum wage of employees who receive tips from consumers will be $5 instead of $15 by the year 2020.

Because of the new policy, Washington D.C. currently has a higher minimum wage than any state in the country. This is because more densely populated regions have higher costs, thus workers require a much higher income than in more rural areas. As a result, the local government institutes a higher minimum wage than the state’s mandated amount in order to ensure better that employees are fairly compensated relative to the common expenses of people living in the region.

In an action that has been years in the making, the DC council voted on July 22 to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. The decision was unanimous.

This culmination of the “Fight for Fifteen” campaign, a movement aiming for a higher minimum wage to meet the costs of living. As elections press on, new topics are thrust to the forefront of public political attention, and this year minimum wage had become a hot button issue. Coupled with the aforementioned movement, the election cycle has prompted actions such as this to occur across the nation. The raise could send ripple effects throughout the not only this area but the entire nation as well.

The Fight for 15 began in New York City when a few hundred minimum wage fast food workers decided to strike for $15 and hour pay and union rights. The movement has since ballooned into a nationwide rally, and, according to a takepart.com article on the issue, its goal has been attained in not only New York but also California and now D.C. as well.

The election cycle further set the wheels into motion on minimum wage legislation. Especially on the Democratic side of the primaries, minimum wage has been deeply discussed and debated.

With a portion of the national voting demographic being minimum wage workers themselves, and, according to raisetheminimumwage.com, the group behind the Fight for 15 movement, 71% of voters support increases in minimum wage.

“The process shows that our candidates are considering it a relevant issue, it’s a prevalent part of what’s going on in the city,” Sport and Health front desk minimum wage worker Noah Marcus said.

According to governing.com, a government economic database, there are 4,000 registered people currently in D.C. who are working for the current minimum wage or lower. The change will give all of the people raises by placing D.C.’s future minimum wage higher than every state’s current minimum wage; the closest to it is Florida, which is only at a $10.50 minimum wage.

From the lower level up, many are lead to believe a domino effect could be incurred through the ranks of the economic hierarchy; placing upward pressure on the wages of those currently slotted above the minimum wage baseline. “When the minimum wage goes up everything starts to go up,” Jimmy John’s general manager Brandon Scott said.

The upward trend could spread to realms outward of pay grades as well. With the increasing cost of employment businesses will be forced to take measures to continue to maintain a profitable site. “I’m going to have to raise my prices; the prices raises will determine how much labor I have to cut.” Scott said.

While the resulting effects of the new wage raise are an uncertainty, change is an inevitability. Decade-long rumblings on the issue are bubbling up into tangible differences, finding out exactly what those differences will accumulate to is an activity reserved for 2020.

 

Following states like California and New York, the Washington D.C. City Council unanimously decided to boost minimum wage for workers to $15 last month.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser pledged to lift the pay for those being paid minimum wage by 2020, according to the Mayor’s Office. This month, Washington D.C.’s minimum wage is scheduled to raise a dollar from $10.50 to $11.50.

Now with the council’s approval this past June, Washington D.C.’s minimum wage will rise by 70 cents each year starting this upcoming year, until it reaches the agreed $15 in 2020. After 2020 the minimum wage will then be left to rise or decline annually, automatically and in accordance with inflation.

In the midst of the biggest pay gap between the lower and upper class of Washington D.C., and the high cost of living in the district, the council’s decision is highly appealing to those workers who rely on multiple low paying jobs to keep food on the table.

But as minimum wages rise, many workers are unsettled about how this will affect their lives in the long run.

Brandon Scott, a general manager at the fast food chain Jimmy John’s, expressed his concern in the overall effects this raise can do to the district. “When minimum wage goes up, everything goes up,” Scott said. “Prices will go up, everything will increase.”

When asked about how the bill will affect Jimmy John’s and it’s employees, Scott said, “Some hours might be cut, it all depends.”

Other laborers however, feel no worry about the raising minimum wage.

Noah Marcus, a front desk worker at Sport & Health and student, who admitted to being paid minimum wage does not share Scott’s worries.

About the decision to raise minimum wage to $15 by 2020, Marcus said, “That’s awesome. It’s good for kids my age. There’s a lot of youth in the work force.”

Marcus also shared his thoughts on current elections paying attention to minimum wage workers, “It’s good that the candidates see it as a relevant issue. It keeps kids interested in politics.”

Marcus pointed out the advantages for students earning more money at the minimum, and was genuinely excited about having more money to create more opportunities for himself. Many youth in the workforce rely on their wages to provide for their education and living expenses.

I need to work more to pay for school so I can get an education but I can’t get an education if I work more

— jack daniels (@ijackyyou) July 8, 2016

According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were over 15 million workers between the ages of 16 to 24 in 2015, and over 2 million of them were paid minimum wage or in some cases even less.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics has also released that “large numbers of high school and college students search for or take summer jobs.” But with University of California Berkeley’s research on minimum wage concluding that “if a student has no aid and wants to graduate debt-free from one of the public universities in the Bay Area, they’d need to work anywhere from 24-48 hours a day, everyday of the week,” students in the work force are pulling on the short end of the straw.

 

 

California and New York are signing legislation for an increase in minimum wage to $15 an hour, similar to that of D.C.’s. NPR interviewed multiple sources on how the implementation would affect their lives.

WASHINGTON – A unanimous Washington D.C. City Council vote raised the minimum wage to $15. Gradually the wage will increase until it reaches $15 in the year 2020, but as of July 2016, it raised to $11.50 an hour.

“I think it [the minimum wage increase] will have a positive impact because living cost has spiked,” Whole Foods employee Haddy Gaye said. “It will be beneficial to people working on the lower end of the scale who still have bills to pay that originally surpassed their wage.”

The national minimum wage is set at around $7.25 per hour, however almost all state governments, such as Florida who pays $8.05 an hour, regulate their own. The Democratic Party added the $15 minimum wage to their platform recently according to the Fight for $15 Foundation.

Former democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders supported a federal minimum wage at $15, but called for immediate action. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton also stated that she would support a $15 federal minimum wage, but at a more gradual pace than what Sanders was asking.

Washington D.C. is a city associated with a high living cost. According to the Washington Post, the average resident needs to make $108,092 a year to reside comfortably in D.C. With a higher minimum wage, it would be a possibility that more people will have a larger yearly income allowing for a more comfortable living.

“Cheat Sheet then determined how much a household would need to earn a year in order to live ‘comfortably,” the Washington Post reported.

“The report used $75,000 as the ‘magic salary number’ based on a 2010 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study indicating that someone’s day-to-day emotional well-being doesn’t increase after a household income hits the $75,000 threshold. Cheat Sheet then adjusted that income level up or down using a cost-of-living calculator and comparing each city to Phoenix.”

“I think it will have a positive impact because living cost has spiked,” Gaye said. “It will be beneficial to people working on the lower end of the scale who still have bills to pay that originally surpassed their wage.”

Washington D.C. is said to have one of the biggest pay gaps among classes meaning that there is a large separation between how much the higher class makes compared to the low one. The new minimum wage may be a factor towards a decrease in this gap, however it may drive a wedge between minimum wage paying businesses and the government. So, the effect of this new legislation had to do with what class a citizen is in.

“I was getting $10.50 an hour,” Robeks Fresh Juices and Smoothies employee Leroy said. “The increase in minimum wage makes me feel good because I can save up for my car and help out my family.”

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) states that the minimum wage increase will increase wages for over 114,000 people if implemented, which is about one-fifth of the D.C. private-sector workers.The EPI research also stated that this would not necessarily apply to teenage workers. Mostly, it would affect adult minimum wage employees. All of the affected employees are going to be age 20 and above. “Teenagers are a mere 2.5 percent of the workers who would get a raise,” EPI reported.

“I had a minimum wage job in high school at a hair salon, but I didn’t have bills so it was okay,” American Valet Dry Cleaning Employee Amanda Corvelli said. “Then, I got a car so my paycheck was gone and I had no money [as a teenager].”

Organizations such as the Fight for $15 rallied for the legislation in Seattle, San Francisco, and Washington D.C., as well as other cities, to promote their beliefs on the issue. The official Fight for $15 mission statement is “There’s work to do before every worker gets $15 an hour and a union – but together, I know that we will win.”

“I think it’s [the national movement] a positive impact because their is such a large gap between the $8 [minimum] in Florida and the $15 here in D.C.,” Gaye said. “I don’t think the living cost gap is that extreme between the states. But, I think it would be beneficial to have it equal across the board for all states.”

 

 

D.C. City Council made a unanimous decision to raise the minimum wage to $15, with D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser pledging to sign the measure into law in June. The step forward marked a huge triumph for unions, whose campaign to “Fight for $15” had been targeting the nation’s capital. 

The movement, which began as an effort from fast-food and other minimum wage workers, has quickly progressed into a new labor standard. States such as California and New York have already agreed to implement a $15 minimum wage gradually, with Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Jersey following along as well.

A minimum wage increase has received strong support from polls, especially since Americans have become increasingly discontent due to the decrease of well-paying manufacturing jobs and the increase of low-paying labor and service jobs. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Washington D.C. already has the highest minimum wage in the country.

“When I see how much it costs to live in Washington D.C. – and that cost is only going up – we know that it takes more money for every household to be able to afford to live,”  Bowser said to the Washington Post.

Elise Gould, a researcher for the Economic Policy Institute, gave a testimony at a public hearing before the Council of the D.C. Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs in May. “Raising the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour would raise wages for 114,000 working people – about 14 percent of all D.C. workers,” Gould said at the hearing.

Allie Goldsmith is one of these employees. A 19-year-old American University student, Allie works at a coffee shop on her campus. The minimum wage increase will directly benefit Allie, who has already felt the effects.

“I’ve seen my wage go up. I make $12.50 now,” said Allie. “It’s something that I’m really thankful for.” When asked about the impact it will have on D.C., Allie said, “I don’t know, inflation is a big thing. I think it will make the job market more competitive.” As a student, she is more than aware of the cost of living in D.C. “I think it’s necessary that if price of living is going to rise, salary should as well,” said Allie.

The Fair Shot Minimum Wage Amendment Act was signed by Mayor Bowser two weeks ago, but the increase will not be immediate. According to the act, the goal is to “progressively increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020, beginning in 2021 to increase the minimum wage during each successive year pursuant to the Consumer Price Index”. It will amend Living Wage Act of 2006.