Minimum Wage Going up!

Thursday, with little media attention, the minimum wage will increase. The increase will raise the wage from $5.85 to $6.55. The new wage is a far cry from the $5.15 it was just over a year ago. However, since then we’ve seen such an increase in the cost of everything else, the raise is not even enough to keep up with inflation.

Next year the minimum wage will boost to $7.25 an hour.

A lot of business owners are complaining that they will have to raise prices due to the increase in minimum wage. Perhaps they should accept a lower income to keep business instead? I know it sounds a bit harsh, but some earn plenty of profit now?and while they are paying their employees minimum wage, they are bring home more than enough to live comfortably.

Twenty three states have minimum wage laws that are currently higher than the federal rate. These states DO NOT include Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama or South Carolina. The states who have laws that are currently lower than the federal minimum wage rate are Kansas, Georgia, and Colorado. The states who are the same as the federal rate are Idaho, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia. All other states have minimum wage rates higher than the federal rate.

When the federal rate changes to $7.25 in 2009, some of these states will catch up with the federal rate.