Obama Calls for Raising Minimum Wage; Business Leaders Balk at Idea

The biggest complaint of raising the minimum wage to $9 per hour is that increasing the federal rate from the  $7.25 an hour rate now 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 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. However, those states have industries which can handle that type of wage.

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.

Selling his plan to a crowd in Asheville, N.C., on Wednesday, Obama said it’s time to increase the minimum wage “because if you work full time, you shouldn’t be in poverty.”

Workers on Long Island know what it is like to work hard, and have little to show for it at the end the week. But, they also know that putting more pressure on already overburdened employers can make jobs dry up very fast.