Here & Now

Walker, Burke on Minimum Wage Increase

Frederica Freyberg:

Now from creating jobs to raising the minimum wage for existing entry level ones, the issue in the governor’s race this week. Here are Democrat Mary Burke and Republican Governor Scott Walker on whether raising the $7.25 minimum wage to $10.10 is a good idea.

Mary Burke:

Wisconsin small business owners understand and appreciate that giving low-wage workers a raise is more than the right thing to do. It’s good for their bottom line, because this will inject additional dollars into the Wisconsin economy. We have to make sure that we have a growing and strong middle class to have a strong, thriving economy.

Scott Walker:

That’s what happens when you don’t have a jobs plan. You pretend to have one by pointing at something like that. We have a jobs plan, we’ve been implementing it. We’ll continue to implement it. The best way to raise wages in this state is help employers create more jobs, more opportunity that far surpass the amounts that people are talking about in terms of a government mandate.