On Friday, the federal minimum wage rises for the third year in a row, sparking the perennial argument among economists: Will it help workers at the bottom of the ladder, or will it kill their jobs?
The federal minimum wage is set to increase later this month as the job market shows signs of further decay.
With commodity, fuel and insurance costs hitting record highs, small-business owners are anxious about Thursday's federal minimum wage hike, which will require employers in 26 states and the District of Columbia to raise their base to at least $6.55.
The unemployment rate is now above 6% for the first time since 2003 and more than 600,000 jobs have been lost so far this year.
Timothy Davis, a 21-year-old who makes just above the minimum wage, chose to live on his own three months ago. He was soon second-guessing the decision.
The Federal minimum wage is increasing to $6.55 an hour today. But for most folks facing higher prices on everything from a gallon of milk to a gallon of gas, it's still getting harder to make ends meet.
Minimum-wage laws around the U.S. are a patchwork of federal and state legislation. On Thursday, the federal minimum wage rose to $6.55 per hour, but the change only affects workers in 26 states (plus Washington, D.C.). The remaining 24 states already have state minimum wages set above $6.55 per hour.
The national minimum wage went up 70 cents on Thursday as the second of three planned increases mandated by Congress took effect.
A North Carolina waitress on Saturday lauded the Democratic-initiated increase in the minimum wage, saying in the party's weekly radio address that the extra money will have a ripple effect on millions of lives.
Just days after the first increase in the minimum wage in 10 years, Democrats on Capitol Hill led by Sen. Edward Kennedy are discussing a further increase to $9.50 an hour.
On Friday, the federal minimum wage rises for the third year in a row, sparking the perennial argument among economists: Will it help workers at the bottom of the ladder, or will it kill their jobs?
The federal minimum wage is set to increase later this month as the job market shows signs of further decay.
With commodity, fuel and insurance costs hitting record highs, small-business owners are anxious about Thursday's federal minimum wage hike, which will require employers in 26 states and the District of Columbia to raise their base to at least $6.55.
The unemployment rate is now above 6% for the first time since 2003 and more than 600,000 jobs have been lost so far this year.
Timothy Davis, a 21-year-old who makes just above the minimum wage, chose to live on his own three months ago. He was soon second-guessing the decision.
The Federal minimum wage is increasing to $6.55 an hour today. But for most folks facing higher prices on everything from a gallon of milk to a gallon of gas, it's still getting harder to make ends meet.
Minimum-wage laws around the U.S. are a patchwork of federal and state legislation. On Thursday, the federal minimum wage rose to $6.55 per hour, but the change only affects workers in 26 states (plus Washington, D.C.). The remaining 24 states already have state minimum wages set above $6.55 per hour.
The national minimum wage went up 70 cents on Thursday as the second of three planned increases mandated by Congress took effect.
A North Carolina waitress on Saturday lauded the Democratic-initiated increase in the minimum wage, saying in the party's weekly radio address that the extra money will have a ripple effect on millions of lives.
Just days after the first increase in the minimum wage in 10 years, Democrats on Capitol Hill led by Sen. Edward Kennedy are discussing a further increase to $9.50 an hour.
The first minimum wage increase in 10 years takes effect Tuesday, to $5.85 from $5.15 an hour, with two more steps over the next two years taking base pay for millions of workers to $7.25.
After a decade-long wait, America's lowest-paid workers saw Congress poised Thursday to increase the federal minimum wage by $2.10
The Senate passed the $124 billion war supplemental budget bill Thursday in a 51-46 vote that moves the legislation, which includes a minimum wage hike and small business tax cuts, toward an all but certain veto from President Bush.
Key leaders in the House and Senate have agreed to a package of tax-breaks for small business that should ease the passage of the minimum wage bill.
The Senate Thursday passed the Iraq war spending bill that included language that will increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in 10 years.
In a 360-45 vote, the House on Friday passed a $1.4 billion package of small-business tax cuts, which is expected to ease the passage of a federal minimum-wage increase in the Senate.
The Senate voted 94-3 Thursday to increase the federal minimum wage in three steps from $5.15 to $7.25 in a bill that also gives $8 billion worth of tax cuts to small business.
The Senate voted Tuesday to attach the $8 billion package of tax breaks and regulatory concessions for small business to the minimum wage bill, taking the measure a step closer to becoming law.
Supporters of increasing the federal minimum wage contend it will offer significant changes to the lives of millions of working-class Americans.
The Senate began debating the minimum wage bill this week with plans for a vote to end debate Wednesday and possible passage next week.
In the first 100 hours of the 110th Congress, the House passed a minimum wage bill that raises the federal minimum from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour and the Senate may follow suit this week, to the dismay of some small business owners.
The Senate Finance Committee approved a bill Wednesday that would give tax breaks to small businesses but would also close tax loopholes for CEO pay and large corporations.
The new Democratic Congress is making progress in its beat-the-clock-style "first 100 legislative hours" agenda.
The House of Representatives passed the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 by a wide margin on Wednesday afternoon.
The new Congress has been sworn in, with Democrats controlling both houses.
The Democrats are taking control of Congress and one of their key agenda items in the "first 100 hours" is boosting the minimum wage. But while a passage in the House is near-certain, passage in the Senate and ultimately the White House may require concessions in the form of tax cuts and regulation-reduction.
The cost of affordable rental housing has risen 28 percent in the past seven years, far outpacing the wages of those who need it most, according to a new report released Tuesday.
The federal minimum wage is set to rise for the first time in nearly a decade after the Democrats took the House and voters passed measures to boost the pay threshold in six states.
Signs that there could be a prolonged legal battle to determine control of the U.S. Senate, following Democratic capture of the House, could help send stocks lower when markets open Wednesday.
Voters in six states Tuesday approved ballot measures raising the minimum wage, joining 18 other states in setting a wage higher than the federal mark of $5.15 an hour, according to CNN projections.
Which places are low on taxes and light on government regulations? Exclusive rankings for FSB.com from the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.*
If you were looking for an opponent of minimum-wage increases, you might turn to someone such as Mazyar Rahimzadeh, 25. He's got a half-million dollars in debt hanging over him, employs 35 workers,...
EIGHTEEN STATES now offer more generous minimum wages than the federal rate. So do roughly 140 cities and counties, from Albuquerque ($6.75 an hour), to Oxnard, Calif. ($12.88). The latest: Ventura...
If you were looking for an opponent of minimum-wage increases, you might turn to someone such as Mazyar Rahimzadeh, 25. He's got a half-million dollars in debt hanging over him, employs 35 workers, and just opened his second restaurant, Bijan, in Walnut Creek, Calif.
Senate Republicans Thursday night failed to advance a bill coupling a 40-percent increase in the minimum wage with a cut in estate taxes, which Democratic leaders had denounced as an election-year ploy.
House Republican leaders were meeting behind closed doors on and off Thursday trying to reach a compromise to appease a block of moderate Republicans who are demanding a vote to increase the minimum wage before the House takes a five-week recess.
A week after the GOP-led Senate rejected an increase to the minimum wage, Senate Democrats on Tuesday vowed to block pay raises for members of Congress until the minimum wage is increased.
Without much fanfare, the House of Representatives last week voted to give members of Congress yet another pay raise, as it has done almost every year for nearly a decade.
A movement to raise the minimum wage is sweeping the country with 14 states raising their minimum wage since 2004 -- five in the past six months alone.
During a tour of communities devastated by the rainstorms that hit California last week, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stood atop a battered levee reinforced by stacks of sandbags and previewed his next crusade. He was preparing to ask the legislature to support a 10-year, $222 billion proposal to fortify eroding flood banks and other decrepit infrastructure. Surveying the swollen canal nearby, Schwarzenegger closed by saying, "I hope we can move forward with [the plan]. It's just the sandbags protecting us from a disaster here."
A Wal-Mart vice president has suggested to the company's board of directors that it could hold down spending on health care and benefits by hiring more part-time workers and encouraging "healthier, more productive employees," according to an internal memo obtained by CNN.
Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott said he's urging Congress to consider raising the minimum wage so that Wal-Mart customers don't have to struggle paycheck to paycheck.
When a couple of clueless pilots in a two-seater plane breached Washington's "no-fly zone" and Capitol Hill was evacuated, you will be comforted to learn, our congressional leaders were immediately whisked to safety in big, black armored SUVs.
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