The New York economy isn't growing fast enough or strong enough.
We're losing high-wage jobs. We're losing medium-wage jobs. The only area of the economy that's actually growing is low-wage work. That's a big problem. And it requires government action.
While we reboot our economic development efforts, make new investments in higher education and research, and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, we must improve pay for the lowest-wage workers.
One concrete step is to increase the minimum wage. Both President Barack Obama and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have made raising the wage a top priority in revitalizing the economy and expanding the middle class. And the public agrees. A recent poll by Quinnipiac University found strong support for an increase — 80 percent of us support it, with strong majorities everywhere in the state.
But there's one group that really stands out: 95 percent of black New Yorkers polled support raising the minimum wage. Economic disparities hit communities of color hard in New York.
In 2011, black women in New York working full time made only 67 cents — and Hispanic women only 54 cents — for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic males. In 2011, 28 percent of black families with children were in poverty and 32 percent of Hispanic families with children were in poverty.
Raising the wage would help address theses disparities, providing direct help to our families and our kids. Workers of color are the majority of minimum-wage workers in our state: about 800,000 of the 1.5 million New Yorkers who will benefit from an increase are black, Latino or Asian.
More than 200,000 low-wage workers would benefit in Albany, Erie, Monroe and Onondaga counties — where central cities have poverty rates ranging from 25 percent to 37 percent and child poverty rates at or near 50 percent. And 861,000 children throughout New York have a parent who would benefit from raising the minimum wage.
As the chair of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, I can say that this issue is my top priority in this year's state budget. I support Cuomo's proposal to raise the wage to $8.75 per hour starting July 1.
It would increase paychecks by $1.3 billion, boost consumer spending by over $1 billion, and kick-start the creation of over 7,000 new jobs, with the biggest impact in communities of color.
And I strongly support Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's position that the minimum wage should be indexed for inflation.
If New York's minimum wage had kept pace with the rising cost of living over the past 40 years, it would be approximately $10.70 per hour today.
If Obama and Mitt Romney can agree on indexing the minimum wage nationally, Cuomo and Senate co-leaders Jeff Klein and Dean Skelos should be able to agree with Silver on indexing it here in New York.
Black, Latino and Asian communities in our state need an economic boost. If we raise the wage and index it for inflation, we will leave a legacy of economic fairness for all communities that will serve as a stable foundation for a stronger New York economy.
Karim Camara is a Democratic assemblyman from Brooklyn and chair of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus.