Exactly one year ago minimum wage increased to $5.85 per hour. Today it increases to $6.55 per hour. At this same time next year it will once again go up, this time to $7.25 per hour.

There is a clear impact here for small business owners across America. When minimum wage increased last year it didn’t have as great of an impact because it didn’t exceed many of the state-mandated minimum wage requirements. That, however, is not the case this time. And the chance that the federal rate will exceed your state’s rate next year becomes even more likely.

There’s no doubt that workers all over the country are pleased with the increase, considering about 2 million of them will receive a raise today, but the increase will do little more than offset the rising cost of products like food or gasoline. In turn, many small businesses are going to have to raise their prices to offset the higher wages, which has a large impact on the price of food because many agricultural workers work at minimum wage.

On the flip side, minimum wage has not risen in congruence with inflation over the years. According to a Labor Department inflation calculator, minimum wage should be about $10.06 per hour, a drastic increase from it’s actual rate.

So I’m curious to see how others view the situation.  Is raising the minimum wage a positive thing for the American economy, putting more money in the hands of consumers, or is it just driving up prices and dragging down small business owners? I don’t know the answer, but I’d love to know what you think.

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