Minimum-Wage Increase Defeated In The Senate

Nation's Business, Nov 1, 1998 by David Warner

An effort to raise the minimum wage by $1 an hour over two years-to $6.15 an hour in January 2000-was rebuffed by the Senate in September on a 55-44 vote.

The most recent increase in the minimum wage took effect Sept. 1,1997, when it was raised from $4.75 an hour to $5.15. The latest proposal, sponsored by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., would have boosted the minimum wage to $5.65 an hour in January 1999 and $6.15 an hour a year later. Business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, had opposed the increase, saying it would binder economic growth and the creation of jobs.