On Tuesday, January 14, 2014 at 9:15 a.m. ET, Jason Furman (Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers), Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) will join EPI President Lawrence Mishel to discuss the economic case for raising the federal minimum wage and their plans to enact the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013.

At the event, EPI will release a letter from economists, including seven Nobel Prize laureates, endorsing a $10.10 minimum wage.

The Fair Minimum Wage Act, introduced by Harkin and Miller, would raise the federal minimum wage in three incremental increases of $0.95 from its current level of $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour. The Harkin-Miller bill would then index the minimum wage to inflation, so that as prices rise in subsequent years, the minimum would automatically be adjusted.

EPI research shows the Harkin-Miller bill would give a raise to 27.8 million workers, who would receive about $35 billion in additional wages. A $10.10 minimum wage would increase GDP by $22 billion, creating roughly 85,000 new jobs.

WHO: Jason Furman, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers

Sen. Tom Harkin, (D-Iowa) Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education and Labor and Pensions

Rep. George Miller, (D-Calif.) Senior Democrat, House Committee on Education and the Workforce

Lawrence Mishel, President of the Economic Policy Institute

WHAT: Briefing on the path forward for raising the federal minimum wage

WHEN: Tuesday, January 14, 9:15 a.m. ET

WHERE: Economic Policy Institute

1333 H Street NW Washington, DC 20005 Suite 300, East Tower

To RSVP email news@epi.org.