A recent study conducted by the Joint Center for Political Economics Studies contends that African Americans will be the leading beneficiaries of the new federal minimum wage increase, which will raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 in three increments by 2009.

In a press conference before the House vote, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D. Mass., said that the legislation is a matter of both 'family values' and 'civil rights,' as the Federal Minimum Wage Act (FMWA) will affect a large proportion of black and minority workers.

In its analysis of the hourly wages reported in the 2006 Current Population Survey, the Joint Center’s study indicates that 1.4 million African American workers will potentially see their incomes rise as a direct effect of the FMWA. As many as 189,000 African Americans will receive a pay raise on May 1, 2007, when the minimum wage will increase to $5.85 per hour.

According to the Joint Center’s findings, the majority of black workers who will benefit live in the South because the Southern states currently have no minimum wage law or set it at the U.S. minimum. The study estimates that the wages of 11 percent of employed blacks in Alabama and nearly 7 percent of employed blacks in Tennessee will jump with the initial phase of this legislation.

In addition, over 350,000 black workers may see their earnings increase through raises exclusively in state minimum wage standards by 2009. An additional 298,000 African Americans may profit first with state increases and then with FMWA raises, as the federal minimum wage will eventually exceed several state minimum wage standards by 2009.

The FMWA has not been enacted yet because the Senate version is different from the House-passed bill. Both chambers will have to agree on the final language that will go before President Bush for signature; a process that civil rights groups say delays a bill that is too long overdue.

Though observers believe that the bill is likely to be passed, millions of African Americans continue to await more comfortable wages. Wade Henderson, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, asserted the importance of Congress’s speedy authorization of the FMWA for black workers, stating that 'this legislation is vitally important for providing livable wages to African Americans who are disproportionately represented among the poor.