NEW YORK (AP) — A campaign to raise the minimum wage as high as $15 has rolled to victory in such places as Seattle, Los Angeles and New York, but it has bumped up against a harsh reality:
Plenty of scofflaw businesses don't pay the legal minimum now and probably won't pay the new, higher wages either.
Some experts tell The Associated Press that without stronger enforcement, the number of workers getting cheated out of a legal wage is bound to increase.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says roughly 1.7 million U.S. workers are paid less than the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour.
Other studies put the number higher. A recent report by the U.S. Department of Labor estimated that in New York and California alone, there are 560,000 violations every week.
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