The Guam Legislature has passed a bill which proposes to increase the current minimum wage of $US7.25 to $US8.25 an hour by January, 2015.
The Marianas Variety reports the bill is a compromise, with an earlier version proposing to have incrementally raised the minimum wage to $US10.10 by 2017.
The author of the bill, vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz, says although a majority of the business community opposed the bill, he's confident that the one dollar increase will not put Guam into a major recession.
Meanwhile, those opposed to the bill argue that employers cannot fully absorb an increase in the mandated wage rate and will cut their workforce as a result.
Those supporting the bill say that raising the minimum wage is not about politics, but about the ordinary worker.
