By: Jaycie Dodd
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.– President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package includes raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour over a five-year period.
The incoming Budget Committee chair, Senator Bernie Sanders, said the raise is the most controversial part of the relief package.
The federal minimum wage currently sits at $7.25 an hour and has not been raised since 2009.
Arkansas just raised the state minimum wage to $11 an hour at the beginning of 2021. If the COVID-19 relief package passes, the state minimum wage would see a $4 increase by 2025.
University of Arkansas of freshman, Avery Coward, works at MarleyMack boutique in Fayetteville where she makes minimum wage.
“Getting more hourly would be very helpful,” said Coward. “My parents lost their job because of COVID and paying for University is very expensive, so working here goes towards a lot of that.”
A study from the Congressional Budget Office found that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour could boost roughly 27 million American’s paychecks, lifting 1.3 million of them out of poverty.
However, the same study found that 1.3 million Americans could lose their jobs due to businesses not being able to pay each employee $15 an hour.
People that oppose the minimum wage increase argue that the United States Congress should not set a national standard due to the varying costs of living across the nation.