New Poll: Even Most Employers Think We Need a Higher Minimum Wage

Momentum may be growing for a national minimum wage hike, with the city council of Los Angeles voting today for a $15.37 minimum wage for workers at hotels with at least 125 guest rooms. Increasingly municipalities and states are taking matters of fair pay into their own hands.

Conservatives often argue that employers oppose increasing the minimum wage because it will suppress hiring, kill jobs, and generally ruin the economy. A new Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder finds that employers actually approve of a national minimum wage of $10 an hour.

The new poll finds that 62 percent of employers think their state's minimum wage should be increased, and that includes 58 percent of “company senior leaders.” Overall, 55 percent of the 2,200 human resource managers surveyed believe the minimum wage should be at least $10 an hour.

Polls have consistently shown that raising the minimum wage is popular among the general public. A Gallup poll last November showed 76 percent of Americans would vote for raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour. This included even 58 percent of self-identified Republicans.