The Berger International Speaker Series and Labor Law Clinic present a lively discussion of the federal minimum wage
moderated by Cornell University’s Professor Angela Cornell and featuring
panelists Richard Freeman, Sylvia Allegretto, and Ben Zipperer.
This event was co-sponsored by the Cornell Law School Alumni Affairs
Office.
The federal minimum wage has been at $7.25 since 2009, and
it’s the longest period in our history without an increase. Not indexed to
inflation, the current rate produces the same purchasing power as 40 years ago.
Gains in wages have gone to the top tier, while wages for most other American
workers have been stagnant. Is it time for a $15.00 an hour minimum wage? Would
there be adverse consequences? How have low wages impacted income
inequality? Is the current wage contributing to the widening racial
gap? Our nationally recognized experts will answer these questions and
more.
About the panelists:
Richard
Freeman holds the Herbert Ascherman Chair in Economics at Harvard University. He is
currently serving as Faculty co-Director of the Labor and Worklife Program at
the Harvard Law School, and is Co-Director of the Harvard Center for Green Buildings and
Cities.
Sylvia Allegretto
is a labor economist and co-chair of the Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics
at the University of California, Berkeley. CWED is a research center housed at
the Institute for Researcher on Labor and Employment. Dr. Allegretto received
her Ph. D. in economics from the University of Colorado, Boulder and worked for
several years at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington DC where she is
currently a research associate
Ben
Zipperer joined the Economic Policy Institute in 2016. His areas of
expertise include the minimum wage, inequality, and low-wage labor markets. He
has published research in The Quarterly Journal of Economics and the Industrial
and Labor Relations Review and has been quoted in outlets such
as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg,
and the BBC.