From NJ 101.5 FM, August 22, 2012:

A bill to increase New Jersey’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 an hour passed the full Assembly in May, but stalled in the State Senate because Governor Chris Christie vowed to veto it.

There’s now a bill in the U.S. Senate to hike the federal minimum wage to $9.80 an hour over three years and if it becomes law there’s nothing Christie can do about it.

While business lobby groups tell NJ 101.5 FM that increasing the minimum wage would lead to job loss, NJPP’s Gordon MacInnes notes that doing so would actually help spur consumer spending, which helps sustain jobs.

“The proposal to increase the federal minimum wage makes great sense for New Jersey: it would help families that are ‘playing by the rules’ struggle into the middle class, while generating greater consumer spending to help our anemic economic recovery,” he says.