Newsday has published an essay of mine that puts the fight for a $15 minimum wage within the big-picture context of my new book, Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy:

Amid all the controversy over the recent push in New York and elsewhere for a $15 minimum wage, it’s important to remember the big picture.

In the decades after World War II, the United States had powerful policies and popular movements that lifted up working men and women. A third of employed Americans were members of unions, and a pro-worker lobby pushed Washington to raise the minimum wage to more than $10 in today’s dollars.

That culture has changed—so much so that today we’re even debating whether a worker should, at a minimum, earn enough to make ends meet.

Read more here. The paper’s sister publication amNew York has also published the piece.

I’ll also be doing a radio interview with Shep Cohen on The World of Work today at 4 p.m. ET. Listen live at WDVR (89.7 FM in Sergeantsville, NJ, and 96.9 FM in Trenton, NJ) or WPNJ 90.5 (Easton, PA).

This post was crosspublished on my site, victortanchen.com.

Victor Tan Chen Victor Tan Chen is In The Fray's editor in chief and the author of Cut Loose: Jobless and Hopeless in an Unfair Economy. Site: victortanchen.com | Facebook | Twitter: @victortanchen