Federal Minimum Wage To Increase

Congress approved an increase in federal minimum wage for nearly a decade on May 24.

It would raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour from $5.15 in three stages over two years. The bill includes $4.84 billion in tax breaks for small businesses.

The proposal to raise the federal minimum wage was attached to the $120 billion Iraq war-spending bill, which was vetoed by White House on May 1. The bill was rewritten, and passed both in the House and Senate. In a White House news conference Thursday, President Bush said he would sign the bill.

Workers earned federal minimum wage will get the first raise to $5.85 an hour, 60 days after the measure is signed by Bush. A year later, the minimum wage would rise to $6.55 an hour, and to $7.25 a year after that.