Everything you need to know about the minimum-wage debate

(Image credit: Screen shot)

last updated 8 January 2015

The minimum-wage debate is a perennially hot one. On one side, you have people who believe increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would significantly boost incomes, create jobs, and ultimately raise millions of Americans out of poverty. Meanwhile, the other side says an increase in the cost of labor only stymies the economy, hurts businesses, and leads to higher unemployment rates.

So who's right? Before you jump into the lion's den, take a look at this fantastically helpful explainer published by KQED and produced by Newsbound. It sets the political stage, dissects assumptions about who minimum-wage workers are, and examines how states and chains that have increased the minimum wage have fared — all in just 25 illustrated slides! Go on, take a spin. --Lauren Hansen

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Lauren Hansen produces The Weekâ€™s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.