In a previous version of this article, the day the New York state Senate reviewed a bill that would allow localities, or state municipalities, to determine their own minimum wage rates was misstated. The bill was reviewed on Tuesday. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

With the introduction of new legislation, Syracuse University students who hold federal work-study positions could see an increase in their minimum wage.

The New York state Senate reviewed a bill Tuesday that would allow localities, or state municipalities, to determine their own minimum wage rates. In his Jan. 28 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama proposed to raise minimum wage for all federal contract workers to $10.10 an hour. The new legislation would allow localities to raise wages above this value, said Blair Horner, legislative director for the New York Public Interest Research Group.

“If the Syracuse City Council wants to bump up minimum wage, they can,” Horner said.

This isn’t the first time the state has addressed raising wages: Last March, Governor Andrew Cuomo approved a piece of state legislation that would raise the state’s minimum wage in three steps. The state originally floored the minimum wage at $7.25 per hour, but in his 2013 budget, Cuomo approved raising the budget to $8.00 per hour by the end of 2013. By 2014, the wage would reach $8.75 per hour, and would be capped at $9.00 by the end of 2015.

In New York state, Horner said there is more support than opposition for raising the minimum wage, but some still remain wary that increasing wages could make it more difficult for lower income businesses to afford to hire employees.  He said legislators feel like they have to “thread the needle” between raising the minimum wage and making sure it doesn’t hurt small businesses.

The minimum wage increase had no adverse effects on student employment opportunities — both work study and non-work study, Camille Donabella, manager of SU’s student employment services, said in an email. She said the number of student employees and job openings has remained the same.

She added that students who earn below $8.00 were automatically adjusted as a result of the increase in 2013.

Matt Huber, a geography professor and member of the Program for the Advancement of Research and Conflict and Collaboration Labor Studies Working Group, said it is unlikely that the state will make changes to its minimum wage policy beyond those outlined in Cuomo’s budget.

“Given that they’ve done it before, they’ve probably checked off the box,” Huber said.

Despite the recent adjustments, Huber said most legislators are “pretty out of step of what is a living wage.” He noted the fast food workers — who went on strike last summer in an attempt to raise their pay to $15.00 per hour — as an example of a sector that doesn’t have an adequate living wage level. Huber said a realistic wage lies closer to $15.00, and that $10.10 is still not enough.

But at SU, where the average student takes on nearly $25,000 of debt, Huber said raising the minimum wage level isn’t going to solve students’ financial burdens. He said students who are working while studying aren’t going to be able to find jobs that pay tuition, regardless of minimum wage levels.

Said Huber: “They might be able to live off of that, but they’d have to live extremely frugally.”

Published on February 5, 2014 at 1:44 am

Contact Annie: apalme05@syr.edu