Six states consider minimum wage boost

WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Minimum wage increases are on the ballot Tuesday in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio.

Voters in those six states will decide whether to boost the current $5.15-an-hour minimum wage set by the federal government in 1996. The initiatives would raise their state minimums to $6.15 or more and provide automatic annual cost-of-living adjustments.

Time magazine said pre-election polls showed support for the initiatives at about 70 percent.

Twenty-two states have already raised state minimum wage levels above the federal level, which stands at its lowest inflation-adjusted total in 50 years, Time said.