ARKANSAS -- A higher minimum wage is only a week away, prompting excitement from low-income workers and advocates and a shrug from business owners in Northwest Arkansas.
Arkansas voters in November decided the state's minimum wage will go to $7.50 per hour starting Jan. 1 for any business with at least four employees, up from $6.25 per hour and 25 cents above the federal minimum.
The raise pushes the minimum full-time annual income to $15,600, just below the federal poverty line for a family of two.
The minimum wage will increase again in January 2016 to $8, and a year later to $8.50.
The change sweeps away a two-tier system in which companies grossing less than $500,000 paid the Arkansas minimum instead of the higher federal level. Minimum-wage hikes often draw an energetic debate -- an attempt this year to boost the federal minimum to $10.10 failed after opposition from Congressional Republicans. But here the raise has been greeted as good, or at least neutral, news, several experts and residents said.
"Certainly, if you're going to have this policy, phasing it in is the smart thing to do," said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas.
General News on 12/24/2014