He added: “The universal minimum wage, most economists will tell you, is a political tool and not an economic tool. The way we have done it is to be very targeted through the progressive wage ...

The bill would raise the minimum wage to $17 by 2030 according to the Economic Policy Institute. The current federally mandated hourly wage is $7.25 and has not increased since 2009.

Their replacement? Berkeley economics professor Michael Reich, whose research coincidentally shows that minimum-wage increases help low-income workers. Obviously, they hoped the Reich study would ...