August 2007: The Long Awaited Minimum Wage Raise

At last, after ten long years, low wage workers finally received some relief from the overall price increases of the past decade as the minimum wage increased $0.70 to reach $5.85 an hour on July 07. Further increases are scheduled to reach $6.55 on July 08 and $7.20 on July 09. There is little research for PR and no hard evidence whatsoever regarding the effects of minimum wage. This issue analyzes the likely effects of the minimum wage increase on the PR economy. Will we end up with fewer employed workers earning higher hourly wages?  Find out how many workers are at risk; which industries are the most affected; and  what are the expected short and long run effects.