Today's 70 cent increase will raise the minimum to five dollars and 85 cents. The government says more than one and a half million American workers made the old minimum wage of five dollars and 15 cents an hour or less last year.
It is the first of three 70 cent increases that will raise minimum wage to seven dollars and 25 cents by the summer of 2009. Some local workers believe the little bit extra goes a long way.
Local Resident Monique Anderson says, "It's hard to survive with minimum wage. It's a real struggle with out it, so an extra dollar. It may not be much, but it's more than what you had."
The manager at The Sweet Shop says it will make her student employees feel better about work in general, "Really, it does boost moral to make more money and you feel better about yourself, so it increases the work."
And the same bill raising minimum wage will also create almost $5 billion worth of small business tax relief to help offset the cost of the higher wage.
