Tim Ryan Quotes

People who work full-time in America should not have to live in poverty - simple as that. Too many jobs don't pay enough to get by, let alone get ahead. Too many people are finding the rungs on the ladder of opportunity further and further apart.

This is the middle-class equivalent of raising the minimum wage.

living wage

When I travel around the country and talk about the need to raise the minimum wage or expand access to paid leave, I often talk about the need for us to reject false choices.

I believe in $15 as a minimum wage.

I want to create an economy where minimum wage is a very brief stepping stone to higher-paying jobs so people can realize their dreams.

At a time when families are incredibly squeezed, it's essential that we provide a living wage for people who work hard and that women realize equal pay for the work they're doing.

What I want to do is create jobs that make the minimum wage irrelevant.

Especially for the young and the lowest-skilled, minimum wage becomes a toll that prevents many from entering the work force and gaining the skills that can make a low income or middle class worker a high income worker. This is so obvious that one wonders why liberals keep championing the minimum wage cause.

The value of the minimum wage shouldn't be eroded, and it has been.

Most arguments for instituting or raising a minimum wage are based on fairness and redistribution. Even if workers are getting a competitive wage, many of us are deeply disturbed that some hard-working families still have very little.

Workers in decent jobs view the economy as unjust if they or their children have virtually no chance of climbing to a higher rung in the socioeconomic ladder.

If you're the cashier at Burger King, of course you make less than the manager or even the CEO. The issue is whether you're stuck being a cashier for the rest of your life.

People who go to work every day and perform the services essential to keeping our economy functioning deserve to live above the poverty level.

Improving the outlook for U.S workers isn't about creating millions of minimum-wage jobs. It is about creating sustainable, skilled employment that allows Americans to earn a fair wage with benefits that allows them to pay for housing and food on the table and sustain a middle-class lifestyle.

America's leaders need to put their feet in the shoes of working Americans.

Once Michigan stood proud. In addition to GM, Ford and Chrysler, it was home base for the United Auto Workers, a powerful escalator transporting hundreds of thousands of blue-collar workers into America's middle class.

Working 40 hours a week used to mean a minimum standard of living and a foothold on the first rung of the economic ladder to the middle class.

President Obama believes that income inequality is one of the most pressing matters facing the nation. If we are going to be a country that provides ladders of opportunity and believes in a thriving middle class, then we have to raise the minimum wage.

The increase in inequality in income is a longtime trend, but the pressure on middle- and low-income workers is going up rapidly. Especially if they live in an area where there are high housing and gas prices, like California.

The best antidote to poverty remains simple - a paycheck. Policies like paid family leave, workplace flexibility and affordable quality childcare can make the difference for two-parent or single-parent working families who struggle to make ends meet.

People who work make the world live better and to reward these people well is normal. Yet they are not the people who are the wealthiest.

If a man or a woman puts in an honest day's work, they should to be able to earn a living wage.

We never accept low wages as the driving force for employment or growth.

There can be no distress, there can be no hard times, when labor is well paid. The man who raises his hand against the progress of the workingman raises his hand against prosperity.