Edwards Wants Minimum Wage Increased to $9.50

(CNSNews.com) - The first minimum wage hike in 10 years is not enough for Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. The former North Carolina senator wants to increase the minimum wage again to $9.50 by 2012. The minimum wage was recently increased from $5.15 an hour to $7.25. "Raising the minimum wage is one of the most important steps we can take to lift working families out of poverty and into the middle class," said Edwards, who also wants to index the minimum wage and tie it to the national average wage. "No one who works full-time should have to live in poverty," he added. "If a job takes you away from your family every single day - or for many low-wage workers, all through the night - it had better pay you enough to support them."