The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour, but according to the Executive Order signed by President Barack Obama, the minimum wage will rise to $10.10 by 2016.

The U.S. Department of Labor says that a pay raise will lift millions of Americans out of poverty, boost America’s economy and support the Equal Rights Movement of equal pay for equal work.

Full-time minimum wage workers make less than $15,000 a year, and after costs for children, rent, taxes, insurance and medical coverage, $7.25 an hour isn’t enough to survive in any state. The poverty line for a family of four rests at $23,850. At $10.10 an hour, six million people can be lifted out of poverty.

“Here’s the bottom line: no one who works a full-time job should have to live in poverty,” said U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez.

The government hopes that an increase in the minimum wage will help increase demand for businesses, decrease turnover and promote a prosperous economy with a boost in more spending money in the pockets of consumers.

“Every time we’ve increased the minimum wage, we’ve seen a growth in jobs, not a loss of jobs,” said Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland.

Forty-two percent of people of color have the majority of minimum wage jobs, with two-thirds of them women. In theory, a pay increase could help bridge the gender and race wage gap.

“In practice, the research shows that minimum wage hikes are usually not enough to cause significant unemployment. The hike generally means more income to workers and more money circulating in the economy,” said Ivan Kaisan, retired assistant Director of Council Services for the Honolulu City Council.

Although an increase in the minimum wage is appealing to many, such a raise can hurt the economy through job layoffs and stricter hiring practices.

Employers who choose to make stricter hiring decisions to maintain their businesses may need to eliminate undereducated, inexperienced workers, reducing them to square one on the poverty line.

Theoretically, less labor means less production, less supply means more demand, but less supply means higher unit prices (to maintain business revenue), resulting in loss of demand, leading to a failed business.

“Raising the minimum wage always sounds good, but it is like an oxymoron because you think you’re fixing a problem, but instead creating an even bigger one.  Everything will eventually adjust: companies will either hire back their employees or workers will get new jobs,” said Economics teacher Lurline Choy.

Middle class individuals are likely to feel a smaller impact if they do not earn the minimum wage.

Minimum wage workers are not just immigrants, minorities, the uneducated or poor. Minimum wage workers also include students, retired and part-time workers.