President Joe Biden wants to raise minimum wage in the U.S. to $15 an hour, more than doubling the current $7.25 hourly wage.
Raising the wage is feasible, depending on how much it is raised, says UNO professor of economics Dr. Janet Speyrer.
"Fifteen dollars is something that's going to have a very large impact on the people who work in those businesses, and on the businessmen themselves," said Speyrer.
Speyrer says there is room for a wage hike, as long as it does not go beyond the market for unskilled labor.
"So you could increase the wage rate to something like the nine dollars, maybe even ten, and not have the unemployment impact," she said.
But once minimum wage goes beyond the market rate. employment will suffer and consumer prices will rise.
"The cost of the good that they're producing will go up quite substantially," said Speyrer.
