US House passes bill to raise federal minimum wage to $15 an hour

WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by October 2025, a big win for workers and labor groups, even as it remained unlikely the bill would pass a Republican-controlled Senate.

The move comes at a time when the $15 minimum wage fight has been gaining momentum around the country with several states and large private-sector employers that hire entry-level workers.

Cities and states including Seattle, San Francisco, New York state, California, Arkansas and Missouri have raised their minimum wage. Over the past year, employers like Amazon.com Inc and Costco Wholesale Corp have raised their base wages to $15 an hour while others like Target Corp have committed to going up to that level by the end of 2020.

Even some opposed to the move like fast-food chain operator McDonald's Corp said recently it would no longer fight proposals to raise the federal minimum wage.

The country's largest private sector employer Walmart Inc, which pays $11 in base wages to its employees, recently said it supports raising the federal minimum wage, calling it "too low."

The Democratic-majority House approved the legislation titled Raise the Wage Act, in a mostly partisan vote of 231-199.

The bill increases entry-level wages for millions of American workers from the current $7.25 an hour - a level that has remained unchanged since 2009.

Many Republicans and business groups have argued that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would hurt jobs, forcing businesses to hire fewer people and replacing jobs with automation. Several Republican lawmakers cited a report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office last week, which estimated the move will boost wages for 17 million workers but at the same time, 1.3 million workers would lose their jobs.

US Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said he would not take up the House's minimum wage bill.

"We don't need to lose jobs, we don't have enough jobs now," he told Fox Business Network in an interview on Thursday. "This would depress the economy at a time of economic boom. We're not going to be doing that in the Senate."

McConnell's opposition to the bill makes its passage more symbolic in nature. However, it also allows Democratic presidential hopefuls to attract more working class Americans with a promise to tackle growing economic inequality in the country, a key campaign issue for many candidates.

Reuters