He also wants to index it to the Consumer Price Index which means automatic adjustments to the cost-of-living (but not to labor conditions), ensuring that inflation cannot take the pressure off or undermine, depending on your ideology the minimum wage level.
Yet, the impact of increasing the minimum wage goes well beyond the 3.8 million Americans directly affected as it is estimated that some 28 to 30 million Americans would be benefited as those working above the minimum wage level would experience increases in pay to keep them ahead of those on the lower wrungs of the company employee ladder.
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In October of 2011, the government raised the minimum taxable wage level by about 10%, immediately enlarging the spending power of millions.
States that had no state-level minimum wage were most affected by all three stages of the federal minimum wage hike.
Eighteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages above the federal level, and 10 states index their minimum wage to inflation to automatically rise with the cost of living.
If the minimum wage is kept to a reasonable level, it can be a good idea.
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Even though the minimum wage has been at the same level for many years, he adds, the government has continued to provide tax breaks for small-business owners.
The president and other champions of a higher minimum wage clearly recognize the value of entry-level work.
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Whatever level is chosen, a minimum wage cannot help the jobless, and might well increase their number.
Lott says any increase in the minimum wage will cause the loss of entry-level jobs and that, in turn, hurts small businesses.
As a Gen-Xer, I feel bad, too, for entry-level workers because all the jobs that pay above minimum wage and even a lot of low-pay jobs for that matter require prior experience!
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Even supporters of the minimum wage worry about the implications of pushing it a lot closer to that level.
The national minimum wage is more worrying, though just how much more depends on the level at which it is set.
Professors Even and Macpherson address this by using variation in state-level minimum wages to estimate the impact of the federal minimum wage hike on legal minimum wages in the states.
"Since New York's minimum wage is tied to the federal minimum wage, Senator Skelos agrees with the governor that it should be set at the federal level, " said Skelos spokesman Scott Reif.
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