Minimum Wage To Increase By $0.70 Cents On Thursday

Washington, D.C (AHN) -- Minimum wage in the United States will see the second of three planned increases. Thursday, the federal minimum wage for workers will increase $0.70 cents to $6.55 per hour, as mandated by the Fair Minimum Wage Act passed by Congress. The third increase is slated for July 2009, when the minimum wage will jump to $7.25 an hour.

According to the Labor Department, a half a million Americans currently work for minimum wage. Most of these workers are young, teens and in their early twenties.

The increase approved in 2007 is the first in a decade. In 1997 the federal minimum wage was increased to $5.15, and it stayed that way until last year's bill passed, initially increasing the wage to $5.85.