The federal minimum wage increases today from $6.55 to $7.25.
U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said the increase will stimulate the economy and help people in need, according to a story in the Roanoke, Va., Times.
Edwin Burton, an economics professor at the University of Virginia, told the paper increase might deter employers that have been thinking of hiring new workers.
The increase is the third and final leg of an overall minimum wage hike approved by Congress last year. The second increase took effect in July 2008 and raised minimum wage by 70 cents to $6.55 per hour.
The minimum wage bill included $4.8 billion in tax breaks for small businesses to help them hire new workers and offset any costs associated with an increase in the minimum wage.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, a labor-supported research group, increasing the minimum wage directly impacted some 6.6 million workers. An additional 8.3 million workers earning slightly more than the minimum wage were affected as well, the EPI said.
