About 3.8 million people, or 3 percent of the overall workforce,
earn at or below the minimum wage (waiters and those in other
professions who earn tips or commissions are sometimes paid less
than the minimum wage), which is down from almost 8 percent of
the workforce in 1979, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. By calling for an increase in the minimum wage
during this month’s State of the Union address, President Barack
Obama waded into a long-running debate among labor economists,
with some saying the proposal would raise incomes and others
countering that it would lead to decreases in employment. In his
speech, Obama said the minimum wage should increase from $7.25
an hour to $9 an hour by 2015 and be indexed to inflation. That
would bring families out of poverty and reduce the widening gap
in incomes, he said. “No one who works full time should have to
live in poverty,” he said. “Working folks have to wait year
after year for the minimum wage to go up while CEO pay has never
been higher.” The mi