Biden Says Raising Minimum Wage 'Good For Business'

[eridani]

http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2014/03/biden-says-raising-minimum-wage-good-for-business?et_cid=3846806&et_rid=54679148&location=top

Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that many restaurant owners support raising the tipped minimum wage for waiters and waitresses, calling the boost in pay "good for business overall."

Boosting the minimum wage has been at the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's attempt to address income inequality around the country and make higher wages a key issue for Democrats heading into the fall midterm elections. The president has frequently noted that women earn about 77 cents for every dollar men earn.

Biden stopped by the Florida Avenue Grill, a popular diner near Howard University, to make the case for increasing the federal minimum wage and the wage paid to tipped workers.

The federal tipped minimum wage is $2.13 an hour — an amount that hasn't been increased in more than two decades — and Democrats want to increase it to $4.90 by 2016. Biden noted that the diner's owner, Imar Hutchins, recently raised wages for tipped workers on his own by more than $1.