The University of Notre Dame announced major wage increases Thursday for faculty, staff and student workers.
Starting Aug. 1, Notre Dame will raise its staff minimum wage to $17.50 an hour and student workers will be paid a minimum of $15 an hour. All salaried staff will be given a 3 percent raise on top of merit-based increases.
A university release says the $25 million investment will impact more than 6,000 employees. Officials say the raises are part of the largest increase in employee compensation in the university’s history.
“We often speak of Notre Dame as being a force for good in the world,” university executive vice president Shannon Cullinan said in the release. “Investing in our faculty, staff and students is an extension of those values and the right thing to do for our most valuable asset, our people.”
Notre Dame is St. Joseph County’s largest employer.
Indiana’s minimum wage still matches the federal minimum at $7.25 an hour. But in light of recent inflation — it hit 9.1 percent in June, a 40-year high — the real value of the federal minimum wage is at its lowest level in 60 years.
Congress last raised it from $6.55 an hour to the current $7.25 in 2009. The nearly 13-year gap without a subsequent increase is the longest in American history.
The University of Notre Dame is a financial supporter of WVPE.
Contact Jakob at jlazzaro@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @JakobLazzaro.
If you appreciate this kind of journalism on your local NPR station, please support it by donating here.
