LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — Arkansas’ 3rd Congressional District would have the most low-wage workers to benefit from a federal minimum wage increase to $15 an hour. Still, the head of the state’s chamber says the increase proposal is “clumsy and heavy-handed” and will result in fewer entry-level jobs.
The Raise the Wage Act of 2021, introduced Jan. 26 in the U.S. House of Representatives, would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. The minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009. Arkansas’ minimum wage rose to $11 an hour on Jan. 1, thanks to a voter-approved initiative in November 2018 that raised the state minimum from $8.50 to $11.
The nonprofit Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that has advocated for a higher federal minimum wage, said the $15 an hour target would raise wages for 32 million U.S. workers and add $107 billion in annual wages to those workers. The EPI study estimates the average worker would receive $3,300 a year in new wages.
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