Two out of three people believe that the minimum wage should be increased, however, companies think differently. About 30% of all workers earn the minimum wage. Minimum wage workers tend to be younger women who work in service jobs, such as working in the food service industry or the retail sector. While many people believe that an increase in the payment of the minimum wage will decrease the number of people living in poverty, an increase in the minimum wage will actually increase the number of people living in poverty. In the United States there is controversy over the issue of the minimum wage. The minimum wage is the lowest wage a worker can receive. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay President Franklin Delano Roosevelt initiated the federal minimum wage during the Great Depression. The minimum wage was initially set at 0.25 cents an hour. Since 1938 it has been raised 22 times. It was last raised in 2009 to $7.25 an hour. Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia have set higher minimum wages ranging from $7.85 in Missouri to $15.64 in Seatac, Washington. Raising the federal minimum wage will increase the number of people living in poverty. Raising the minimum wage would lead to small businesses laying off employees, resulting in higher levels of unemployment. In one survey, 38% of all small business employers paying the minimum wage said they would be forced to lay off workers if the rate were to rise. Unemployment levels are estimated to increase by 2.1%. Many companies are even trying to replace minimum wage workers with robots. Many experts also believe that raising the minimum wage would increase household poverty levels because studies have shown that when minimum wages increase, employers reduce the hours each employee works. This reduction in hours reduces employees' net pay. "The higher the wages, the higher the costs of production. The higher the costs of production, the higher the prices. The higher the prices, the smaller the quantities of goods and services required and the number of workers employed in their production." Thomas Grennes, MA, professor emeritus at North Carolina State University. Poor families can become even poorer by losing jobs or losing hours. An increase in the minimum wage will also affect the employment of teenagers. It is a common misconception that minimum wage workers are single parents trying to earn an income to support their family. Minimum wage jobs are designed for high school students looking to earn extra money or college students trying to pay for college. Over half of all minimum wage employees are between the ages of 16 and 24, and 79% of them are part-time employees. Many small business employers are unwilling to pay such high wages to teenagers or unskilled workers. This causes large unemployment among teenagers. According to a study conducted by Thomas A. Mroz, Ph.D., and Timothy H. Savage, Ph.D., for the Employment Policies Institute, "those who experience unemployment at an early age have years of lower earnings and greater chances of unemployment ahead of them."Many experts also believe that an increase in the minimum wage also increases poverty levels because workers become satisfied with their earnings and do not continue to.