U.S. House to set minimum annual pay for staff at $45,000, Pelosi says

　　div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Kanishka Singhp

　　pWASHINGTON Reuters – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will set a mininum annual pay for its staff at 45,000, months after a nonprofit report found that over 12 of congressional staffers did not have a living wage.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

　　p“I am pleased to announce that ….. the House will for the first time ever set the minimum annual pay for staff at 45,000,” Pelosi said in a letter to lawmakers dated Friday.p

　　pThe step would go into effect from September, she added.p

　　pA report from a nonprofit earlier this year found that one in eight congressional staffers in Washington, DC, are not paid a living wage.p

　　pThe report had compared staff salaries in Congress to the living wage in Washington, D.C., which is 42,610 for an adult without children, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.p

　　pIn her letter on Friday, Pelosi also acknowledged that young staffers “often earn the lowest salaries.” The letter was first reported by Punchbowl News.p

　　p“This is also an issue of fairness, as many of the youngest staffers working the longest hours often earn the lowest salaries”, Pelosi said.p

　　pLast year, over 100 U.S. lawmakers, led by Representative Alexandria OcasioCortez, had called for higher wages for congressional staffers in order to better retain employees working for members of Congress.p

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　　pp Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, Editing by Louise Heavensp

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