The recent debate over raising the minimum wage has been contentious, with revelations about fast food worker’s struggles
to survive on their wages striking a chord with many Americans. One of the proposed solutions is a nationwide increase to $US15 an hour from the current federal floor of $US7.25.
Americans are nearly split on the issue. A recent survey of 10,686 people by compensation website PayScale found that 50.6% oppose such a large increase, and 49.4% support it.
There’s also a significant amount of variation between states. Many states have higher minimum wages already; Washington’s is the highest at $US9.32 per hour.
But the biggest supporters of an increase are states like New York and Hawaii that have the highest costs of living, and where those with low-paying jobs face greater difficulty getting by.
Here’s the state-by-state breakdown from PayScale, excluding South Dakota and Wyoming, where the sample size was too small:
Among the survey’s additional findings:
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