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By Geri Gibbons
Times Leader (PA), July 26, 2015

WILKES-BARRE — ... Federally, it seems raising the minimum wage has been a long time coming. This past Friday marked six years since the federal minimum wage was last increased in 2009.

Some businesses have come forward with their contention that raising the minimum wage will not only be good for employees, but good for businesses and the economy in general.

According to the website of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, comprised of business and executives supporting a federal minimum wage increase to at least $12 by 2020, “The minimum wage impoverishes working families and weakens the consumer spending at the hear of our economy.

The website continues, “Raising the minimum wage makes good business sense. Workers are also customers. Minimum wage increases boost sales at local businesses as workers buy goods and services they could not afford before. And nothing drives job creation more than consumer demand.”

Many Pennsylvania residents are hopeful Gov. Tom Wolf’s support of legislation to increase the minimum wage will provide an impetus to raise the state’s minimum wage for all workers. ...

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