Toward an $8.25 minimum

THE MASSACHUSETTS House will decide this week whether workers at the bottom of the economy will be able to fight back against inflation. It ought to support an increase in the state minimum wage to $8.25 and index future increases to rises in the cost of living.

The House will be considering a proposal advanced by Representative Michael Rodrigues, Democrat of Westport, that would raise the minimum wage to $7.75 an hour. It hasn't been increased since 1999, when it was set at $6.75. Rodrigues, co chairman of the Labor and Workforce Committee, figures that now is the time to act.

He's right about the urgency, but wrong about the amount. This year it takes $8.20 to buy what $6.75 would in 1999. And since Rodrigues would raise the minimum wage in two increments, the $7.75 rate wouldn't take effect until 2008. Minimum-wage workers are trying to play catch-up with inflation and, under the Rodrigues plan, they would lose.

The Senate has approved the $8.25 rate as an outside section of the budget. That's not the best vehicle for policy changes, but the substance of the plan is sound. Representative James Marzilli, Democrat of Arlington, will try to amend the Rodrigues proposal in the House.

At $8.25 an hour, Massachusetts would have the highest minimum wage in the country, but even that is not enough to support a family adequately. The failure of other states to do more for their low-wage workers shouldn't deter the Legislature from helping Massachusetts residents.

Rodrigues, in a telephone interview, said he was wary of raising it too high for fear of discouraging employers from hiring very young workers. Yet a study by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center found that 80.9 percent of those who would be affected are 20 or older. The increases would help people throughout the labor force.

Rodrigues opposed indexing because he believes the Legislature shouldn't allow further increases without taking a fresh look at the economy. But these raises should have little impact on a $299 billion state economy. If indexing causes problems later, the Legislature can revisit the issue. For now, it is a reasonable approach to prevent erosion of living standards by people struggling at the margins of the economy.

Congress is unlikely to be of help. The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $5.15 for nine years. Senator Edward Kennedy, among others, is working hard to increase it, but at $7.25, his proposal is inadequate for Massachusetts. The state Legislature needs to act this year to help low-wage workers cope with an unforgiving economy.