The current minimum wage in the United States is set at $7.25 per hour. This might seem like a generous pay rate compared with the $.25 requirement that was established when the Department of Labor (DOL) incepted the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938. However, a study by the Center For Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) alleges that this actually pales in comparison to the money employees should be earning for their time and attendance.

If the base pay were adjusted to reflect inflation and indexed to the official Consumer Price Index (CPI-U), it would actually have passed the $10 mark already, the CEPR claims. There are even more dramatic disparities when productivity is taken into consideration. Employees in today's work environments should be earning $21.72 per hour based on the amount of work they perform in their employee attendance.

"If we started in 1960 and we said that as productivity goes up, that is as workers are producing more, then the minimum wage is going to go up the same. And if that were the case then the minimum wage today would be about $22 an hour," Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren told Dr. Arindrajit Dube, a University of Massachusetts Amherst professor, at a recent event.

President Barack Obama recently suggested that minimum wage be increased to $9 per hour to ensure America's low-wage earners can support themselves and their families. While there is some support for the hike, many employers fear these extra expenses will hinder hiring efforts.

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