Raising minimum wage may affect little

Experts caution it doesn't solve problems of the poor

(AP) Two months into her minimum-wage job at Target Corp., Tara Dennis realized she and her three children would be better off if she was unemployed and on food stamps. So she quit.

"As a single mom, minimum wage isn't going to get me ahead. It's not even going to get me caught up," said Dennis, who lives in Missoula, Mont.

A proposed increase that would bring the federal minimum wage to $7.25 would give workers like Dennis their first raise since the federal minimum increased to $5.15 in 1997. But some low-income workers and their advocates say the wage increase won't affect many workers and is not a way out of poverty for minimum-wage workers. Since the last increase, wages for most of the lowest-paid workers have risen above the federal minimum wage, while prices for necessities such as housing and transportation have grown faster. "We should be aware that this is an extremely moderate proposal," said Jared Bernstein, senior economist of the Economic Policy Institute.