Article: Federal minimum wage goes up Three 70-cent increases will raise pay from $5.15 to $7.25 in 2009

WASHINGTON - The nation's lowest-paid workers will soon find extra money in their pockets as the minimum wage rises 70 cents to $5.85 an hour today, the first increase in a decade.

It ends the longest span without a federal minimum wage increase since the pay floor was enacted in 1938. The last increase came in September 1997, when President Clinton signed a bill raising the minimum 40 cents to $5.15 an hour.

Maine's minimum wage, $6.75, is already higher than the new federal hourly rate and is due to increase to $7 on Oct. 1.

Legislation signed by President Bush in May increases the federal minimum wage 70 cents each summer until 2009, when all minimum-wage jobs will pay no less than $7.25 ...

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