By Craig J. Coughlin

In a state filled with so many resources and assets -- from our location to the quality of our workforce to the quality of our educational system -- too many people are still effectively living on subsistence wages. For years, my Democratic colleagues in the Legislature sent the former governor minimum wage increase bills, which he repeatedly vetoed.

Now, at long last, New Jersey has the opportunity to gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 for our workers. We owe it to our fellow New Jerseyans to do just that and provide a fair living wage for all earners.

Those who would directly benefit from a gradual increase in the minimum wage are the neighbors we see every day.

They are the woman who cares for your sick parents, the dad whose daughter goes to school with yours, the student who sat next to you at college graduation. They are the men and women who work tirelessly each and every day but cannot afford the basic necessities of life, from child care to food and transportation. And in a state as wealthy as ours, it is unconscionable for so many people to live under these conditions, earning wages that can in no way realistically keep up with the cost of living in New Jersey.

The working men and women who earn the minimum wage today still earn less than $18,000 per year -- and that is provided that they work full-time and don't miss even one hour of work. Raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour on a scaled-in basis over the next few years will help hundreds of thousands of New Jersey's workers see a pay increase, a staggering number when you consider that millions more would be helped by the ancillary benefits from those wage hikes.

Studies have shown that an increase in the minimum wage would not only lift many working men and women from poverty but would also result in a decrease in domestic violence and child abuse, among other scourges. It would contribute to better health outcomes, lessening the burden on our healthcare system and our state budget.

And it would ensure that we begin to close the income inequality gap that has threatens to grow even more extreme if we take no action.

I strongly believe that it is my duty, and the duty of my colleagues in the Legislature, to take meaningful action to help the hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans who are struggling because they work several jobs and still cannot earn enough to make ends meet. These men and women take pride in their work each and every day and yet they are not compensated enough to afford the very basic necessities of life. We owe it to them to make our state more affordable for them and for their families.

In the coming weeks, we will be unveiling legislation to help lift these working men and women out of poverty, to provide them with an income commensurate with the dignity of their work. Passage of this legislation should not and must not be a partisan matter, because the people it seeks to help are not political pawns but our neighbors. Politicians and business owners who fear a minimum wage hike need only to look at the states whose minimum wage is higher than ours to see that many of them also have a lower cost of living.

Fiscally, as well as morally, there is nothing to fear.

The time to have raised the minimum wage was years ago. Now, with a new governor in office, we have the opportunity to finally do the right thing for our fellow New Jerseyans who work tirelessly and still struggle to make ends meet each and every day. Let's pass a minimum wage increase in the coming weeks that finally proves that we mean what we say about helping those who need it most.

Craig J. Coughlin, D-Middlesex, is the state Assembly speaker.

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