If the minimum wage kept place with inflation over the past 40 years, it would $10.74 an hour — over $3 more than today’s federal minimum wage of $7.25. President Obama advocates raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, but some fast food workers and union activists are pushing even higher, for an even $15 an hour.
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How people feel about raising the minimum wage by that much seems to correlate with what they do for a living. PayScale’s research indicates that workers who earn less are more likely to support a $15 minimum wage than people who earn $70,000 or over.
Other findings include:
- Writers and editors are most in favor of raising the minimum to $15, at 77 percent in favor.
- Other occupations highly in favor of raising the minimum include nurses, home health aides, teachers, counselors, and social workers — in other words, folks in “caring” professions who are most likely to be low-paid or encounter low-paid people on a regular basis.
- Engineering managers were least in favor, at 25 percent.
- Other professions least in favor: accountants and auditors, financial managers, and chief executives — namely, logic-based professions that earn high salaries.
See more information on specific professions, below:
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