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EMBARGOED for release UNTIL 10:06 AM EDT, Saturday, July 29, 2000

            PRESIDENT CLINTON'S RADIO ADDRESS TO THE NATION:
                        RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE
      A SMART POLICY FOR AMERICA'S WORKERS AND THE AMERICAN ECONOMY
                             July 29, 2000

Today, in his weekly radio address, President Clinton will call on Congress to pass clean, straightforward legislation to raise the minimum wage by $1 -- from $5.15 to $6.15 -- in two equal steps. The President first called for an increase in the minimum wage in his State of the Union Address in January 1999. Congress at first stalled and then held the minimum wage increase hostage for tax cuts that are part of a costly and fiscally irresponsible plan that would drain the entire surplus and leave nothing for priorities like an affordable Medicare prescription drug benefit. Congressional delay has cost a full-time minimum wage worker over $900.

       Distribution of Wage and Salary Workers Paid Hourly Rates
                             by State, 1999
                   Number (in thousands)         Percent of All Wage
                                                  and Salary Workers

                      $5.15    $6.15              $5.15      $6.15
                        to       to                 to         to
                      $6.14    $7.14              $6.14      $7.14

Total 10,093 8,370 13.9 11.6

 Alabama                202      146               18.1       13.1
 Alaska                   9       13                5.5        7.6
 Arizona                200      157               15.2       11.9
 Arkansas               130      101               20.9       16.2
 California           1,463    1,023               17.4       12.1
 Colorado                79       92                7.3        8.4
 Connecticut             62       70                7.5        8.6
 Delaware                22       21               10.8       10.0
 DC                      12       12               10.0       10.7
 Florida                597      530               15.5       13.8
 Georgia                267      248               13.1       12.3
 Hawaii                  47       29               15.0        9.4
 Idaho                   58       45               15.6       12.3
 Illinois               428      354               13.2       10.8
 Indiana                180      209                9.8       11.4
 Iowa                   103       91               11.2        9.9
 Kansas                 123       96               15.6       12.3
 Kentucky               157      161               14.2       14.7
 Louisiana              297      123               25.9       10.7
 Maine                   45       39               11.8       10.4
 Maryland               125      137                9.5       10.5
 Massachusetts          161      162                9.6        9.7
 Michigan               341      312               11.3       10.3
 Minnesota              115      121                8.0        8.4
 Mississippi            146       74               22.7       11.5
 Missouri               172      169               11.9       11.8
 Montana                 54       32               21.5       12.7
 Nebraska                67       68               13.2       13.6
 Nevada                  60       60               11.2       11.3
 New Hampshire           29       31                8.2        8.5
 New Jersey             205      187               10.6        9.8
 New Mexico              75       39               18.0        9.1
 New York               566      395               14.8       10.3
 North Carolina         247      223               12.4       11.2
 North Dakota            34       29               18.3       15.9
 Ohio                   427      356               12.7       10.6
 Oklahoma               170      126               19.6       14.5
 Oregon                  35       18               43.7       19.7
 Pennsylvania           454      338               13.8       10.3
 Rhode Island            37       25               13.4        9.3
 South Carolina         153      116               14.9       11.3
 South Dakota            33       29               15.2       13.7
 Tennessee              208      216               13.6       14.2
 Texas                  929      653               18.5       13.1
 Utah                    61       84               10.1       14.0
 Vermont                 21       20               12.4       11.5
 Virginia               218      207               13.6       12.8
 Washington             180      158               10.9        9.6
 West Virgina           106       60               22.2       12.8
 Wisconsin              157      177                8.9       10.0
 Wyoming                 25       19               17.8       13.8

Note: Workers in the $5.15 to $6.14 category would be directly affected by a $1.00 increase in the minimum wage. Those in the $6.15 to $7.14 category could be affected by spillovers.

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, unpublished tabulations from the Current Population Survey, 1999.

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