The US president Barack Obama says raising the minimum wage to US$9 an hour and tying future increases to inflation will boost the incomes of millions living in poverty and spur job growth by pouring more money into the economy. But business groups are not so sure.
They complain that increasing the federal rate from $7.25 an hour would discourage employers from hiring new workers, hurting the very people Obama aims to help.
Obama pointed out in his State of the Union address on Tuesday that 19 states and the District of Columbia already have minimum wages set above the federal rate of $7.25, creating a vast wage disparity across the country.
And 10 of those states make annual cost-of-living adjustments, including Washington state, where workers earn at least $9.19 an hour, the highest minimum in the country.
The plan faces certain hurdles in Congress, as top Republicans, including House speaker John Boehner, wasted little time dismissing the proposal.
More than 15 million workers earn the national minimum wage, making about $15,080 a year. That's just below the federal poverty threshold of $15,130 for a family of two.
Mr Obama said it's time to increase the minimum wage "because if you work full time, you shouldn't be in poverty."
Advocates say a minimum wage increase can lead to even broader economic benefits.
"These are workers who are most likely to spend virtually everything they earn, so it just pumps money back into local economies," said Christine Owens, the executive director of the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group.
That will trigger spending at small businesses in their communities, stimulating consumer demand and driving economic growth, Mr Owens said.
Economists have long disputed the broader impact of setting a minimum wage. A major 1994 study by labor economists David Card and Alan Krueger found that a rise in New Jersey's minimum wage did not reduce employment levels in the fast-food industry. Mr Krueger now is chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Yet that study has come under fire from other economists, who argue that comparing different states over time shows that raising the minimum wage hurts job growth.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, said a higher minimum wage would boost incomes for some poorer workers. But it would also discourage employers from hiring more of them.
"So on net, I am not sure it helps," he said.
* AP
