Business Notes LABOR

The minimum wage of $3.35 an hour, earned by nearly 3.5 million American workers, has stayed the same for the past six years. A messenger, clerk or fast-food worker who works full time at that rate makes $6,968 a year, which is 23% below the poverty level for a family of three.

Last week congressional Democrats, led by Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Representative Augustus Hawkins of California, unveiled a formula for keeping minimum-wage earners from falling farther and farther behind the rest of the work force. They introduced legislation that would hike the minimum by nearly 40%, to $4.65 an hour, by 1990. After that, the rate would be tied to half the average hourly U.S. wage. Kennedy says it is "unacceptable" that the current minimum wage "does not permit full-time workers to provide the bare necessities for their families."

The plan is already meeting strong resistance from the Administration, many Republican legislators and business lobbyists. Opponents contend that the Kennedy-Hawkins measure would reduce the number of low-wage jobs available, especially part-time work for teenagers. Says Labor Secretary William Brock: "We need to concentrate on how to get our kids into the work force rather than on a new way to keep them out."