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ANNAPOLIS, MD (CNN) - Lawmakers in Maryland are debating raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10 an hour over the next two years.

The legislation is touted as a stimulus package for the state and supporters say that the increase will pump more than $1 billion into the economy.

State senator Rob Garagiola (D) said studies indicate that raising minimum wage does not encourage job loss.

"You get a positive economic impact in helping those middle-class workers be able to pay their mortgage, pay their bills and meet their family obligations," Garagiola...

Kitchen workers often make minimum wage. So do housekeepers and store clerks. That’s $7.25 an hour, but a bill in Annapolis would raise it to $8.25 this year, to $9.10 next year and in 2013 to $10 an hour.

“We believe a job should keep people out of poverty, not in it,” said Rev. Ken Brooker-Langston.

A plant farm owner joined religious and labor leaders to support paying workers more. “I can count on those employees to look after the quality of products we make,” said John Shepley.

The Maryland Chamber of Commerce says if...

Progressive Maryland and several state senators are behind a movement aiming to raise the state's minimum wage over the next few years. Under the plan, the state's minimum wage would go from $7.25 an hour to $10 an hour by 2013.

John Shepley, co-owner of Emory Knoll Farms, says paying his employees more money has many advantages to him, including not having to deal with employee turn around.

Those behind the movement say putting more money in Marylanders’ pockets will help to stimulate the state's economy.

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By C. Ford Runge Pioneer Press, 07/13/2010

Gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer's most substantive economic proposal to date is a 'tip credit': to reduce the incomes of waiters and waitresses in Minnesota by pushing their wages below the minimum to compensate for tip income. Emmer noted breathlessly last week that at least three waiters at the Eagle Street Grille in St. Paul were being paid $100,000. "Tips for Tom," as he calls it, is presumably justified as a way of lowering wages to increase business profits - an idea going back at least to Herbert Hoover...

By George Pyle, The Buffalo News

McClatchy-Tribune Regional News, Apr. 19, 2010

Can Buffalo afford to pay its workers enough that they can afford to live in Buffalo? Can we make ethanol pay? Is Buffalo a good place to ride out a recession?

- Feasibility divides 'living wage' debate [http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/04/18/1022977/feasibility-divides-living-wage.html] -- George Pyle/The Buffalo News

"It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, clothe, and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labor as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed, and lodged."...

By Carmen Blanco
Catholic News Service, Aug 11, 2009

Workers in 30 states and the District of Columbia have been impacted by the [July] 24 increase in the federal minimum wage from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour, but the question of whether the increase will help or hurt the economy remains to be seen. "Families are relying on low minimum wages more than ever," Paul Sonn, legal co-director of the National Employment Law Project, told Catholic News Service in a phone interview. "There is a widespread misconception that minimum-wage workers are largely comprised of teenagers...

Money Talk with Angela Carter
Live Chat, New Haven Register, 7/29/2009

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Centre Daily Times (PA), July 29, 2009
Our View

Workers on the lowest rung of the pay scale got a slight boost last week when the federal minimum wage was raised to $7.25 an hour. The third and final installment in the federal minimum wage is a good effort to put more money into the economy but a long way from giving the lowest-paid workers a living wage.

By Angela Carter
New Haven Register, 7/28/09

The minimum wage across the nation went to $7.25 per hour Friday from $6.55 an hour, but the extent to which it boosts the spending power of lower-income earners or siphons off those jobs remains to be seen, experts say.

Connecticut business owners are paying close attention to trends in the federal minimum wage even though they are paying $8 per hour, with an increase to $8.25 in January 2010.

Corp Magazine, July 28, 2009
Business Buzz - Boston, Mass.

Business Owners Welcome Minimum Wage Increase
Raising minimum wage will help economy, say national business leaders and small business owners from states affected by July 24 increase

July 21, 2009, Boston, MA - Business owners across the nation are welcoming the July 24 increase in the federal minimum wage from $6.55 to $7.25. National business leaders and small business owners in states where workers are getting a raise say the increase will boost consumer buying power and promote economic recovery.

Media Matters, July 27, 2009

SUMMARY: Reporting on the minimum wage increase, NBC's Amy Robach stated, "Some small business owners criticized the timing of the increase, saying it's a burden in a weak economy." But Robach ignored evidence that the increase will stimulate the economy.

Some firms cut staff to cover payroll costs

By Diane Stafford and Tony Pugh
McClatchy Newspapers, July 26, 2009

The federal minimum wage rose from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour on Friday, bringing with it controversy about whether the increase is good or bad for the economy.

The raise, which affects about 4 million workers nationally, is the third and final increase mandated by Congress in 2007.

For a full-time minimum wage earner, the bump up means $28 a week more.

By Leader staff
Shawano Leader (WI), July 24, 2009

The nation’s lowest-paid workers will get a raise today when the federal minimum wage climbs 10.7 percent to $7.25 an hour.

“It’s about time,” said Cliff Thompson of Shawano, who works at a local fast food restaurant. “The previous amount we were getting paid was a joke.”

With the economy mired in recession, the boost couldn’t come at a better time for the workers who will benefit.

Audio
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/07/24/pm_minimum_wa…

Text

KAI RYSSDAL: The federal minimum wage went up today. It was a 70 cent bump to $7.25 an hour. Workers at the bottom end of the pay scale in 31 states will be getting raises. The other 19 states already had minimums higher than the new federal standard. The increase had been in the works for a while. It's the last of a three-step adjustment that was started years ago. It just happens to be coming in the middle of the worst recession in 75 years.

Marketplace's Jeff Tyler reports.

Shreveport Times, July 24, 2009

The federal minimum wage will go to $7.25 an hour today from its current level of $6.55.

Louisiana is one of five states with no minimum wage. Some thoughts from financial analysts and others:

Against the grain

of current economy

The hike in the minimum wage is "going against the grain" of the economy, and the job market might not be able to absorb the mandated increase.