Where the candidates stand on minimum wage

	For the next few weeks, the Times X-Team will be asking area students a different question each week about the upcoming election. We want to hear your views on these questions, so please share them in this guest book.

This year's presidential election might again depend on Florida, particularly along the so-called Interstate 4 corridor that stretches from the Tampa Bay area through Orlando. Now that hurricanes have we hope stopped bombarding the state, President George W. Bush, Sen. John Kerry and their running mates will be coming by quite a bit before Nov. 2. Last week's first debate was held at the University of Miami. Xpress wants to help make sense of what the candidates are saying. This is the fourth in a series about issues surrounding the election. For others in the series, visit www.sptimes.com/xpress

Today, Xpress looks at what the candidates have to say about the minimum wage.

Bush's views on the minimum wage are unclear. He does not talk about the issue in the "Agenda for America" on his Web site. In the past he has opposed raising it, but in June a spokesman for Bush's campaign told the Washington Post that "the president supports a reasonable proposal that would increase the minimum wage over an extended period of time, and that doesn't place an unreasonable burden on small businesses." The spokesman did not give details. While Democrats usually have supported increases in the minimum wage, Republicans usually oppose them, saying that a higher minimum wage hurts low-skilled workers instead of helping them. Their theory, which some economists support, is that if businesses have to raise wages they will have to cut jobs, and jobs that pay the minimum would then be harder to find - for adults and teenagers alike.

Kerry is very much in favor of raising the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7 an hour by 2007, and then increasing it yearly to keep pace with inflation. He says his main concern is not putting extra spending money in young people's pockets but helping those who have to raise families while working for minimum wage. The minimum wage has not been raised since 1997, and therefore has "fallen further and further behind the cost of living," Kerry says on his Web site. Kerry says the increase will help 15-million workers, including 4.5-million working women. He said by raising the minimum wage, he would be giving raises to 1.4-million working mothers, including 623,000 single moms.

Only Congress can raise the federal minimum wage, so even if Kerry is elected he will be dependent on the House and Senate to get it done, and both currently have a Republican majority. Kerry's "plan" actually comes from legislation introduced in April by Sen. Edward Kennedy who, like Kerry, is a Massachusetts Democrat. In Florida, the minimum wage might go up regardless of who is elected president. In November, voters will decide on an amendment to the Florida Constitution that would increase the state's minimum wage to $6.15 an hour. That figure would be adjusted each year for inflation. When the federal and state minimum wage are different, the higher number would apply.

Next week: Xpress looks at the candidates' views on foreign affairs.

Information from Times files, the Washington Post, www.georgewbush.com and www.johnkerry.com was used in this report.

Here's the rest of today's Xpress