Louisiana is one of five states in the nation that doesn’t have a minimum wage law of its own. Instead, it sets the same rate as the federal government, $7.25 an hour. That rate hasn’t changed since 2009. And while democratic Governor John Bel Edwards has urged the Republican-controlled Legislature to set and raise the minimum wage in Louisiana, all efforts have failed.
Earlier this month, voters in neighboring, Republican-led states of Arkansas and Missouri approved increases to their minimum wage rates.
On this week's Capitol Access, Jamie Carson with the Louisiana Budget Project, a non-profit that studies budget policy in the state, talks about the minimum wage in Louisiana, and whether or not the decisions in Arkansas and Missouri could impact efforts to increase the rate in this state.
Click here for more information on state minimum wage laws across the country.